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Mince Pies and Mince Tarts
Baking treats with loved ones is a great way to get everyone involved in the kitchen this Christmas. Whether you choose to make open mince tarts or add a pastry lid for mince pies, these traditional home baked treats compliment seasonal goodwill. If you don’t have plain or fluted cookie cutters, you could use a glass or cup to cut out the pastry circles.
Ingredients
SWEET ALMOND PASTRY
- 150g Wessex Mill Plain White Flour
- 25g ground almonds
- 50g icing sugar
- 75g butter
- 1 tsp grated orange rind
- 1 egg
- plus butter, for baking tray
- plus flour, for dusting
FILLING AND TOPPING
- 75g mincemeat
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp demerara sugar (optional)
Equipment
- 2 x 12-hole tart tins
- 1 x mixing bowl
- 1 x rolling pin
- 1 x 75mm/3" round cookie cutter
- 1 x 50mm/2" round cookie cutter for pie tops
Method
Sweet Almond Pastry
180°C, Fan 160°C, 350°F, Gas 4
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Measure the flour, almonds and sugar into a mixing bowl.
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Chop the butter into small cubes, add them to the bowl and using a fork or your fingertips rub everything together until it looks like breadcrumbs.
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Finely grate the orange rind to the bowl, break the egg in and mix everything together until the dough comes together.
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Cover the dough and place in the fridge for half an hour to rest.
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Continue as per the recipe or wrap and freeze for another day.
Filling and Topping Mince Pies and Tarts
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Preheat the oven and rub some butter around the inside of 2 x 12-hole tart tins.
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Dust the work surface and rolling pin with flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
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Put the dough on the work surface, dust with flour and roll it out until 3mm/⅛” inch thick.
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Press a 75mm/3” inch round cookie cutter into the dough and transfer the circles to the holes of the tart tin. Mend any smaller breakages in the pastry by pinching it together.
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Gather left over pastry into a ball and roll it out again until 3mm/⅛” inch thick.
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Cut more 75mm/3” inch rounds or, for mince pies, press a 50mm2” inch round cookie cutter into the dough for the pie tops and press the prongs of a fork into the pastry to allow the steam to escape during cooking.
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Break the egg into a small bowl, beat well and brush around the edges of the pastry.
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Put a teaspoon of mincemeat into the centre of each pastry circle, taking care not to over fill.
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If making mince pies lift the 50mm/2” inch circles over the mincemeat. Brush the tops with beaten egg and sprinkle each with a pinch of sugar.
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Bake mince tarts for 20-25 minutes or mince pies for 25-30 minutes.
