There are so many ways in which people make mince pies this festive season. Something I like to do, if I have the time, is to make my own pastry and add some bits and bobs to bog-standard mince meat, like satsuma segments, cranberries and a drop of sherry or port, but this year, we have been somewhat strapped for time, what with work and organising our wedding.
So I thought of some ways to make some mince pies the easy way. I thought that, instead of making my own pastry this year, I will actually buy some pre-made stuff. It is so easy, all you have to do is buy some shortcrust pastry, roll it out, cut out some circles, grease a muffin tray, scoop in your mince meat mixture and put a lid on it.
You get the homemade look, feel and taste without spending hours on it, like I normally would do. But this year, as you might have noticed, there has been a twist. I thought I'd give some gingerbread-flavoured mince meat a try. This jar was from Sainsbury's and is part of their Taste the Difference range.
It's different, but Tom said he would give these a try if they tasted like gingerbread, so you never know, we could have a mince pie convert on our hands here! I will keep you posted. So anyway, let me summarise, below, what you will need and the steps you need to take to easily bake some homemade gingerbread mince pies this Christmas!
What you will need
For the pastry...
*THE EASY WAY - Shop-bought shortcrust pastry (1 or 2 rolls depending on how many you're planning on making, two rolls were fine for 12 mince pies with their lids)
The homemade pastry way:
*225g butter
*350g plain flour
*100g golden caster sugar
*Pinch of salt
For the filling...
*Ready-made gingerbread mince meat, but you could always flavour a jar of standard mince meat with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon if you can't get your hands on the ready-made stuff
*Round cookie cutters
*A rolling pin
*A muffin tray with 12 slots
*A table spoon, for scooping in the mixture
*A slither of margarine or butter for greasing the muffin tray
*A fork to prick the lids after you've assembled your mince pies
*A whisked egg for browning the top of the pastry (you could use milk if you're struggling for eggs)
The method
1. Mix the sugar, the flour and the butter together, with a pinch of salt for good measure, and rub until you're left with a pastry mixture
2. Roll this into a ball and set to one side, you can chill it for later if needed, just wrap in cling film
3. Roll out the pastry and cut out small circles, just large enough to fill the slots in your muffin tray
4. Place the pastry circles into your tray and press down so that it mimics the shape of the muffin tray slots
5. Use a table spoon to scoop the mixture into the pastry bowls you've made, don't fill it to the brim yet, you can always go back around afterwards, before you put the lids on
6. Cut out some more circles to make the lids for the mince pies, but then again, it could be a star or another Christmas shape if you wish
7. Seal the lids up around the edges and prick the tops if you've cut out circular-shaped lids
8. Cover the lids with a thin layer of egg mixture to make them golden
9. Put them in the middle shelf of your oven at 200C and cook until the pastry becomes golden brown
10. Once they're done, take them out and leave on a cooling rack before eating, but make sure they're warm when you tuck in, because that's the best way to enjoy them, right?!
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I hope you enjoyed this blog post and that you gave it a go. Let me know in the comments below whether you've done this before to save some time at Christmas and I'll see you again very soon with a brand new blog post :)
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