I know there are already a couple of mince pie recipes in the forum, but I often get asked for my recipe, so I thought I would post another one!
My recipe has evolved over the years. I used to make a suet based one, but his one has no fat in the mince at all, and the flavour leans towards citrus. I store it in a large glass jar in the fridge, and it lasts for months. When you get sick of mince pies, you can spoon it over icecream or make it into a slice or a cheesecake. It makes a large quantity, so I make it in my stock pot instead of the thermie, but I use the thermie for all the chopping. This recipe can easily be halved if you don't want to be eating mince pies in June
Ingredients:
175 g almonds ( can be replaced with 175g prunes if you want a nut free mince)
300g seedless dates
1 kg pack of mixed dried fruit (or any combination you have on hand)
2 large apples, quartered and cored
Finely grated zest of 2 large oranges
Finely grated zest of 2 large lemons
250 ml Orange juice
185ml lemon juice
125g marmalade ( I used mandarin )
50ml Cointreau
Method:
1. Put almonds into thermie and chop on speed 5 for 10-15 seconds, depending on how finely you like your nuts chopped. Remove.
2. Put dates into thermie and chop on speed 6 for 15 seconds. Remove
3. Put half the mixed dried fruit into thermie and chop on speed 6 for 10 seconds. Remove, and repeat with remaining half. Remove.
4. Put apples into thermie and chop on speed 5 for 10 seconds. Remove.
5. In a large saucepan, place sugar, marmalade, orange and lemon juices and zests, and Cointreau. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture comes to the boil.
6. Add chopped Fruit and nuts and stir well. Reduce heat to medium low and cook for 8 to 10 minutes stirring often. Remove from heat.
7. Spoon fruit mince into sterilised jars for gifts, or into one large glass jar and store in the fridge.
Sour Cream pastry (Margaret Fulton)
Ingredients
325g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
185g chilled butter, diced
1 egg
100ml sour cream
Method:
1. Put the flour, salt and butter into thermie and turbo a few times until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
2. In a jug, mix together the egg and sour cream.
3. With the motor running, process at speed 3 or 4, and slowly pour the egg/cream mixture through the hole in the lid, until the pastry comes together. You may need to add a little more sour cream, depending on the size of your eggs, or you may not need to add it all.
4. Tip out, and form into a ball. Wrap in plastic film and place in the fridge for at least an hour.
5. If you have any of the egg/sour cream mixture left over, reserve for basting.
Assembly:
Preheat oven to 200C
Flour the bench top & roll out the pastry thinly. Cut out circles using a 7 1/2cm round cutter, and place into greased patty pans. Once you have filled one tray, place in the fridge whilst you complete the second tray. This pastry is very soft, and needs to be kept cold. You should have enough pastry for 3 dozen pies, topped with stars, or 2 dozen pies if you want to top with a lid. You will need to re-roll the pastry as you go. You will need to cut out 3 dozen stars for the tops, or 2 dozen rounds for the lids. If doing whole lids, you will need to cut a slit in the middle or use a small star cutter to allow the steam to escape as they cook.
Take one tray out of the fridge at a time, and place a tablespoon of fruit mince into each pie case. Top each one with a pastry star, or a lid and press edges of pastry well to seal. Glaze star or top with reserved egg/cream mixture or beaten egg, and sprinkle with Demerara or raw sugar.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown.
These are delicious eaten on the day they are baked, but can be stored in an airtight container, or frozen.
