The pastry is light and crumbly and is easy to work with. I always make my sweet shortcrust pastry with real butter because it really makes a difference in terms of the taste of the finished product and I urge you to do the same. I think we have the best tasting butter here in Ireland and I unashamedly use it all the time.
In the past pastry was used as a vehicle
to encase various meats or fruits and was often discarded or left uneaten.
These days pastry is an important edible element in the recipes in which it is
used. Like so many recipes where very few ingredients are used, I believe that
the quality of those ingredients is of critical importance so I use the best
that I can afford.
Mince pies mean Christmas to me and they are a great treat to have stored in an airtight tin for when unexpected guests pop by. I should also mention that the uncooked, filled pies can be frozen and then cooked directly without thawing… just give them an extra 5-7 minutes in the oven.
Ingredients:
Mincemeat:
450g cooking apples,
peeled, cored and chopped into smallish dice
225 shredded suet
350g raisins
225g sultanas
225g currants
225g candied peel
350g soft dark brown
sugar
Grated zest and juice of
2 lemons
Grated zest and juice of
2 oranges
2 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
4 tblsp brandy
2 tblsp Cointreau
Sweet shortcrust pastry:
175g plain flour
50g icing sugar
100g butter, cubed
1 egg yolk
Method:
Mincemeat:1. Combine all the ingredients except the brandy and Cointreau in a large ceramic or other oven-proof mixing bowl making sure to stir well so that everything is thoroughly mixed together.
Cover the bowl loosely
with foil and leave the mixture in a cool place overnight, so that the flavours
have a chance to develop.
2. Preheat the oven to
110C/Fan oven 90C/Gas Mark ¼. Place the foil covered bow in the oven for three
hours. Remove from the oven. The mixture will look quite liquid at this stage
but will thicken as it cools.
3. Stir from time-to-time
as it cools. When it is completely cooled stir through the brandy and
Cointreau. Pack into sterilised jars and store in a cool dark place until you
wish to use it.
To Make the Mince Pies:
1. Sieve the flour and
icing sugar together into a large bowl. Add the diced butter and using your
fingertips rub into the flour and icing sugar until the mixture resembles fine
breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add in the egg yolk and a tablespoon
of water and mix to bring everything together to form a dough. Do not over-work
the dough. Cover the dough with cling-film and allow to rest in the
refrigerator for at least half an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 190C/Fan
Oven 170C/Gas Mark 5. Thinly roll out the pastry on a lightly floured
work-surface and using a 7cm round cookie cutter, stamp out rounds of the
pastry and use to line individual patty tins. Put a generous teaspoon of
mincemeat into each. Using a pastry brush, dampen the edge of each little pie
with a little water or a beaten egg and place another round of pastry on top.
Seal the pies by pressing the pastry tops and bottoms together with the tines
of a fork.
3. Place in the preheated
oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the
oven and allow cool in the tins.
4. I love these served at
room temperature with a little dusting of icing sugar. When completely cold
they can be stored very successfully in an air-tight tin for up to 5 days, but
they have never lasted that long in my household.
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