Mince pie recipe

by Charlotte Morgan | 1 comment | Print recipe

A rich and fruity (vegetarian) mince pie recipe, with zesty pastry and boozy apple mincemeat. Makes 16 medium-sized mince pies.

Try and make your mincemeat at least a week in advance, so it has time to mature. The mincemeat recipe makes enough to fill 3 jam jars.

At a glance

Cuisine English
Recipe Type Dessert
Difficulty Easy
Preparation time 30 mins
Cooking time 15 mins
Serves 16 people

Ingredients

For the mincemeat

1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and cut into large chunks
2 orange, finely grated zest and juice
125 g (4.4oz) butter, chilled and grated
140 g (4.9oz) raisins
280 g (9.9oz) sultanas
60 g (2.1oz) mixed candied peel, chopped
325 soft light brown sugar
30 g (1.1oz) walnuts, chopped
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp cinnamon
35 ml (1.2fl oz) brandy

For the pastry

200 g (7.1oz) plain flour, sifted
1 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
100 g (3.5oz) chilled butter, cubed
1 medium egg, beaten, plus extra for glazing
0.5 orange, zest only

Step-by-step

For the mincemeat: chuck the apple chunks into a small saucepan with a splash of water (about 1 teaspoon). Cover the pan and cook on a low heat for no longer than 10 minutes, until the apple is pulpy. Allow to cool.
Combine the pulpy apple with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, then store in sterilized jars.
The longer your mincemeat matures, the tastier it will be.
For the pastry: place the flour, sugar, orange zest, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor and blitz quickly. Add half the beaten egg and continue to blend. If it doesn't come together, add a little more egg. Be careful, though - too much egg and it will make the pastry sloppy.
Flatten out the ball of dough until it is about 2cm thick, then wrap in cling film or place in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas mark 6. Brush a muffin tin with melted butter or a very little sunflower oil.
On a floured (or icing sugared) work surface, roll out the pastry to 3mm thick and cut out 16 circles for the bases using a 6cm cutter for medium-sized pies. Use a smaller cutter (we like to use a star-shaped or snowflake-shaped one) to cut out 16 stars for the lids.
Line the holes of the tin with the larger pastry rounds. Fill each base with a teaspoon of mincemeat and top with a star/snowflake pastry lid. Brush the tops of the mince pies with beaten egg, or a little milk.
Bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes until pale golden, with the mincemeat bubbling around the edges. Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

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