Merry Mince Pies

It's almost the end of November, and you know what that means: you're officially allowed to be in the full Christmas spirit, reindeer jumpers and all!

I know I've been feeling festive for the past couple of weeks now. We've been mass producing mince pies at work (1600~ done, 4000+ to go!) and you can't help but hear in your head Cliff Richard crooning about mistletoe and wine when the kitchen smells deliciously Christmassy. Everyone around the place has been feeling it and this past week I brought the spirit home to my own kitchen and whipped up a batch of mince pies all of my own.

They come with a little confession, though: making mince pies at work is the first time EVER I've made shortcrust pastry or even eaten a mince pie before! Somehow I've gone 22 years without shovelling them into my gob whenever Christmas rolls around - but not this year! After trying one hot from the oven at work, I've been addicted ever since, and I truly have my kitchen colleagues to thank for teaching me (and letting me produce!) the pastry recipe in this post.

I didn't realise how simple mince pies were to bake, and if you've never made them either you'll be pleasantly surprised. 

For the pastry (makes 12) you'll need:

2oz margarine - I prefer Stork, but any will do

2oz lard

8oz plain flour

1.5fl.oz water (approx. - add less rather than more if you're unsure, as it's easier to add water than more flour. P.S. Fun fact in a bit about why this is approx ;] )

Equipment wise, the most important thing you'll need is a food processor. As a poor, just-got-out-of-uni civilian, I don't have a food processor, so I used a mixer, but a mixer is time consuming and not as successful at breaking up the lard, so if you have a food processor, I recommend it over anything! 

Preheat the oven to 175C (fan). With your food processor at the ready, place in the margarine and lard, cut into small chunks. Add the flour and whizz until like breadcrumbs. Don't turn the processor off - pour in the water slowly (here's the fun fact: at work we don't measure the water, but pour at a consistent, slow speed and count to four) and after a few seconds the mixture will start to combine. It should form into a cylinder and whizz around as a whole lump - when it does this, turn off the processor and take the pastry out, collecting any stray pieces from inside the machine (without cutting yourself on the blade!).

Roll the pastry out on a floured surface. If you don't have much counter space, split the pastry in half. Don't use too much flour on your surface - the pastry will dry out if it is handled too much and has too much flour added during the rolling process, but don't forget to flour your rolling pin as well! Roll evenly to the thickness of a 10 pence piece and use an 88mm cutter to cut out 12 bases. You wont get them all in one roll, so keep re-rolling and cutting until you have 12. Place the bases into a greased cake tin - I used a muffin tin as it's slightly deeper and more robust than my cake tins - pushing them in carefully until the edges don't overhang out of their hole.

This is where your mincemeat comes in. One reason I've been excited about this post is because of the type of mincemeat I've used. Brought from my work, and made by a company called Bay Tree, it's a vegetarian mincemeat. Not a trace of suet in sight. It tastes no different from standard, suet-filled mincemeat (sweet and chewy) and has just the same, thick texture you'll recognise. I love finding food that caters to all diets, and having vegetarian mincemeat means ALL my friends can enjoy these Christmas treats.

I digress.

Fill each base with a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat. Be careful not to overfill or it will all spill out during cooking and make for not only a sticky mince pie, but a sticky baking tray! Flatten it a little, but don't worry too much about levelling it out as it will settle during cooking.

Once filled, roll out the remaining pastry to the same thickness as before and cut out 6 stars, and 6 68mm circles with cutters (of course, you can do this before filling). Brush with milk (not eggwash, if you wish to keep even more allergens out of the picture) and place on top of each filled base. Gently press the points of the stars into the rim of the base pastry so they join, and do the same with the circle tops, removing most air holes.

Finally, using a sharp knife, poke two parallel holes through the middle of each circle top, and then place the whole tray in the oven for 16-18 minutes until a light, golden brown.

Remove from the oven and remove from the tray onto a wire rack, leaving to cool for 15-20 minutes. I best enjoy my mince pies with heat still in them, so I eat them when they're fresh and warm, but if you're a cold mince pie lover, leave them for up to an hour and enjoy later. For an even better festive treat, try some brandy butter on the side or a little clotted cream.

My sister and I are having a mince pie competition this year to see who makes the best, and I can't wait to try hers. However you like your mince pies, and however you bake them, I hope you enjoy them by the bucket load this Christmas and don a gorgeous Christmas jumper under your apron.

Do you have a favourite mince pie recipe? How do you eat yours?