Christmas countdown day 9

Day 9 in the Advent countdown photo challenge and this post is dedicated to one of the essential food groups for Christmas MINCE PIES!!

This I believe is the best ever mince pie recipe, it's based on this BBC Good Food recipe and the comments from people who have contributed.

Ingredients

225g butter - diced
350g plain flour
100g golden caster sugar
jar of mincemeat - more if you want them well filled
1 egg - beaten
icing sugar to dust - optional


Method

1. Light the oven - 200c or gas mark 6 or fan 180c
2. Rub the butter into the flour then mix in the sugar
3. Add a generous half of the beaten egg (the remainder is for brushing the tops of your pies)
4. Bring it all together into a dough, it will be easy to handle and will stick together without being too stickly,
5. You can use it straight away or chill it if you prefer to use it later, it does freeze well too.
6. You do not need to grease your mince pie tins so you are ready to roll out your pastry, because this has such a high fat content you need to do this between two sheets of cling film.
7. I don't measure the depth of the pastry before I cut it out I just go by feel, and this can be rolled very thin, you will know your own family preference.
8. Cut out the base circles and place in your tins 
9. Add a spoonful of mincemeat (you can be as generous as your mincemeat stocks permit!)
10. Cut out you pastry lids and press gently into place to form a seal.
11. Brush the finished pies with beaten egg
12. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes 
13. Leave in the tin for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.
14. Dust with icing sugar before serving (Optional - I don't usually remember)

Notes

This pastry is very forgiving and copes quite well with being re-formed a few times.

Try not to spill any mincemeat on the tray it's a right pain to get off!

The original recipe doesn't use the egg and the pastry is more like a shortbread so behaves quite differently, why not try both versions and see which you prefer

These pies are never going to win any beauty competitions but they are the tastiest, I have tested them on family, friends and work colleagues and everyone loves them.

They are delicious on their own but also work very well with vanilla ice cream

I apologies for any adverse effect this recipe may have on your waistline! and please note that I am not a cookery expert so follow this with caution!!

 

Chocolate free Advent day today, probably just as well when there are mince pies around!!  but not joke free :)

"What do you get when you cross a bell with a skunk?"

"Jingle smells"

Oh what a stinker!!


Let me know how you get on with the mince pie recipe or if you have one that is even better please share.