In our family mince pies are the equivalent of eating Fois Gras in a french Michelin star kitchen.
My Mother and I have spent days, no, weeks making and perfecting our mincemeat and pastry. Each year is a (friendly) competition to bake the best mince pies. I won't tell you the score because it won't show me in good light.
This year was no different, I started making my mince meat early October in small batches changing little bits here and there until I had the perfect flavour. Early tasting polls of family members have shown a swing in my favour this year, but I will let you know the final result.
This post is not about my mince pies. My mum and Grandma taught me how to make mince pies and this is their recipe, (with a couple of additions from me) because for me they created the taste of Christmas.
Mincemeat
Most people buy this because its much easier but making it isn't hard it just takes time. It stores super easy in an airtight container in a cupboard, the longer you leave it the better it tastes. One year me and Mum made mince pies with 1 year old mincemeat and they were great so feel free to make a batch and store it for a year.
The recipe is super simple, it involves chopping/chucking fruit into a bowl with some suet and leaving overnight. Then warm in the oven for 3 hours at 120 degrees. Stir occasionally whilst cooling, to ensure the fat covers all the fruit (this is what helps preserve it). If it cools and you can see lumps of fat, simply reheat and try again, no harm done. Once cooled add your alcohol and you are finished. Christmas in a jar.
The following ingredients makes about two jam jars worth of mincemeat.
Quantities:
120g Bramley Apple, peeled, cored and chopped into small (approx 1cm) cubes
Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
Zest and Juice of 1 Orange
110g Raisins
110g Sultanas
110g Currants
110g Dried Cranberries
120g Mixed chopped candied peel
40g Flaked Almonds
120g soft light brown sugar
120g suet (vegetable or beef) - I use Atora
2 teaspoons of ground Cinnamon
2 teaspoons of Mixed Spice
1/2 teaspoon of ground Ginger
Once cooled.
Add:
2 shots of Port
2 shots of Brandy
Mix and taste, add more alcohol as you require (to taste).
Pastry
This is the important part, short flakey pastry is very easy to make even if the ideas is a little daunting. The important thing is that your fat is cold, you don't over mix it and you roll it to the correct thickness (3mm). This is what me and my mum have spent the longest perfecting. It was a good couple of years before I could be trusted to do this on my own, but now I am a proud graduate of my mums pastry school for the rich shortcrust (pastry not people).
This may look like a long recipe, but the method changes depending on having a KitchenAid (like my mum) or a bowl and a pair of hands (like me).
The most important way to ensure your pastry is as short as it can be, is not too add to much water, and not to mix for any longer than it needs, stop as soon as it can be formed into a ball.
Quantities (interestingly we have always done this in pounds and ounces (hence the odd gram weights)
450g (1lb) of plain flour
140g (5oz) Lard, straight from the fridge.
140g (5oz) Butter, straight from the fridge. (you can use all butter instead of lard, but make sure you add 50g (1.7oz) icing sugar to the mix, don't ask me why but it helps)
1 egg
pinch of salt
1 heaped teaspoon of creme fraîche
splash of water
#KitchenAid recipe (I really want a KitchenAid so i'm hoping if I refer to them enough they will give me one)
Put the flour and fats into the bowl with the paddle attachment. Beat on a low then medium speed until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs (1), see the picture below if confused.
Beat the egg, creme fraîche and salt together in a mug. Add to the #KitchenAid whilst its running on a medium speed, beat for 10 seconds and review the situation. Is there lots of crumbs at the bottom? probably. (I have major issues spelling that word I have no idea why, I always think there should be an "r" in it. This has happened to the extent my phone now thinks it does too.) Add a tablespoon of water to the mug you mixed the egg in, give it a stir and add a bit, do this whilst the mixer is going. As soon as the pastry comes together in the machine stop. Poke it with your finger, it should be soft but not sticky and mostly bound together. If not add some more water.
Dump the contents onto some cling film squish the loose bits together, wrap it up and put it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Hand recipe
Same as above but when rubbing the flour and butter together with your hands follow these instructions/tips.
1. Make sure you mix the top of the bowl with the bottom of the bowl after each minute to make sure you are rubbing all the fat into all the flour.
2. Technique: Cover all the fat in flour so it doesn't stick to your fingers. Pinch and squeeze and then rub together the fat and flour to break it up into smaller pieces. Basically continue the squeezing and rubbing until it resembles breadcrumbs, and you no longer feel big lumps of fat.
3.Then add the egg as above and squish it into a ball of dough, adding enough water to help it form into a ball, I find by hand the dough needs to be a bit wetter to bind, but don't worry. Chill as above.
After 20 minutes take the dough out, it should be chilled but not hard. Split into half or quarters, depending on how big a work space you have. Cover your surface in flour, and then the dough in flour and roll out until about 3mm thick. Some people like thicker pastry others like it thin, find what you like then repeat it. Whilst rolling, make sure you are turning the dough over regularly, and re dusting with flour. Otherwise it will stick to the work surface and be a nightmare to use.
Find a 12 hole muffin tray and select a cutter a little bit larger than the holes. With pastry you want to avoid re-rolling as much as possible, if you keep re-rolling you build up the gluten in the pastry and then it becomes chewy and not crumbly.
Transfer the circles to the muffin tin, but DO NOT press the pastry into the tin so it touches all the edges and the bottom. If you do the pastry will stick, simply with one finger press the middle down until the pastry at the edge is just above the rim of the tin, if you have been flouring a lot this will be easy.
Use a heaped teaspoon of mince per mince pie, not a huge one but not a tiny one. To start with fill one and then attach the lid, the amount of filling should allow you to close the lid to the case and look like its bulging (see photo below). Before closing wipe the inside with milk to help it stick.
Repeat until you run out of pastry (2) or have made enough mince pies.
Glaze the tops with milk, sprinkle with some sugar, stab the tops twice with a sharp knife and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees until the top is light brown and the pastry looks dry.
Transfer immediately to a cooling rack, and I mean immediately!
Don't leave to cool before eating the first one. Once the rest are cooled, I freeze them so they keep longer and just pop them in the oven for 10 minutes to hear up before eating. (3)
Decoration ideas:
1. Use a tiny star cutter and take a little star out of the lid instead of stabbing with a knife.
2. Get a lattice roller and make lattice mince pies, remember to stretch before you cut the lids out.
3. Make little pastry decorations, e.g. the star as extra pastry and stick it on top.
4. Instead of stabbing with a knife, pinch with some scissors.
5. Use a large star cutter and have the lid as a star.
Dust with icing sugar, simple but effective.
Let me know how it goes!
Footnotes.
(1). This is a well used phrase but nowadays how many people know what breadcrumbs look like and breadcrumbs can now be artisan, fine, crumbly, thick and crouton. So with the butter and flour you are looking for a mixture where your can't tell the difference between the fat and flour and its more of a fine breadcrumb mixture with a couple of larger chunks. It should take you about 1 minute in the machine and 4 minutes by hand.)
(2). Pastry freezes really well, you can store it for about 6 weeks. Make sure you allow it to defrost for 24 hours in the fridge then 15 minutes at room temperature just before using.
(3) I remember watching Nigella Lawson's christmas programme when she made mince pies, at the end she stole down the stairs and ate a tiny mince pie with a load of whipped cream. I would not recommend this. My friends would recommend them served with custard, but I would much prefer to eat them on their own, and then on special occasions add some brandy butter....I'll ask my mum for her recipe.
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