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.

Advent Calendars......the count down has begun pt1

I know its not even December and I am writing a Christmas blog, in my defense you do need to think about your advent calendar before the 1st of December unless you are hoping to bag a cut price bargain at the last minute.

Advent numbers from free printable source

When I was a child our advent calendar was made of card, reused each year until one of the doors dropped off and only then it was replaced. There was no chocolate involved, there was a big door for number 24 and there was always a picture of Joseph, Mary and the baby Jesus.  I was one of 3 children and we took it in turns to open a door, my Mum kept a note of who had opened the big doors the year before and worked it out so that privilege was moved round so we all had a fair turn.

Nowadays the supermarkets offer us a chocolate treat behind every door and you would struggle to find any religious references on the vast majority, with cartoon characters being the preferred theme. They are available from mid October and everyone in the household has their own.

No1 Advent Calendar

In recent years I have looked around for new ideas, Pinterest has of course helped fuel this as there are so many creative and imaginative ideas as well as traditions from other parts of the world that are shared.  I very much like the Scandic tradition of counting own the Sundays to Advent by lighting a candle, last year I used four pillar candles and just tied a numbered kraft tag on each one and then remind Hubby which one(s) he could or couldn't light.  The year before I used a star shaped blackboard and just changed the number each day.

While the last couple of years have been simple and understated this year my creative juices have gone into overdrive and I am going completely overboard!   I am planning a multi medium extravaganza that will hang in my lounge and so it needs to be decorative both before and after each day is opened.

 1 to 24 free Advent Calendar print outs

I am a big fan of Pinterest and have created this board full of advent ideas so please feel free to jump in and pin away.

As there are several elements to my plan I will share these with you as I go along.  The first thing I have done is print out the numbers that I am going to use, I have used the black and white mixed fonts from the link below, although I may substitute some of them as I have a couple of other ideas, it will depend how it all comes together.


Free to download - Advent calendar numbers

Vintage style envelopes with numbers

Cute animals with blue background

Black and white mixed fonts numbers



As this calendar is an extravaganza  I wanted it to have a few elements to it so one of the things that I am including is a selection of cheesy Christmas jokes from the links below, these can also be printed out and put in lunchboxes for a little festive smile.


Christmas jokes

Free to download Christmas jokes - child friendly

Christmas jokes on picture back ground

Printable Christmas cracker jokes


I am intending to blog everyday in December up to the big day, I have a daily photo challenge as part of my advent calendar which I will be sharing with you on my next post, I will be sharing my daily Christmas joke as well as any Christmas makes, bakes and  any general Christmas good stuff.

As you can see from the pictures above I will be including some of the paper bags I had left over from my Red Nose day baking bonanza, although they may not be no 1 and no 24 in the final mix.

I hope this wasn't too harrowing for those of a delicate nature as far as Christmas is concerned and that you will pop back for part two.



What are your advent calendar plans?

A - Supermarket chocolate goodness

B - Four candles

C- You have inspired me to make my own

D - I will be reusing last years

E - Don't bother me with Christmas stuff its too early

F - Not for me thanks

Please leave a reply to let me know that you popped by