Description
These easy Vegetarian Mince Pies combine crisp buttery pastry with rich, brandy-infused dried fruit. They are the taste of Christmas!
Ingredients
Scale
For the pastry:
- 275 g plain flour
- 125 g fat (I use a mix of half butter and half Trex as I think this makes the lightest pastry)
- Salt
- A little water
For the filling:
- 1 large jar of mincemeat – see my easy Vegetarian Mincemeat recipe or use good quality shop-bought
- A little milk and caster sugar
Instructions
- Set you oven to 180 C, 350 F or Gas Mark 4.
- Make the pastry. Put the flour in a bowl. Add the fat and combine – either by “rubbing in” by hand or processing – until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper. Add a little cold water (2-3 tbsp) and shape the mixture into a dough.
- If you have time, allow your pastry dough to rest for half an hour, wrapped in cling film, as this will make the resulting pastry more tender. If you do not have the time, don’t worry!
- Roll out the pastry on a floured surface so that it is as thin as possible.
- Using a round pastry cutter which is slightly larger than the depressions in your pie tin cut circles from your pastry. I use a 7.5 cm diameter pastry cutter which is fairly standard.
- Place a circle in each of the depressions in your pie tin.
- Put 2 teaspoons of mincemeat onto each pastry circle.
- Using a star shaped pastry cutter, cut stars from the remainder of the pastry. Place them on top of each mound of mincemeat.
- Paint the top of each star with a little milk using a pastry brush. Sprinkle with caster sugar. This will make the top of the pies golden and crunchy. (Some people add beaten egg instead but I always think it is a waste of an egg as you don’t need very much of it!)
- Put the pies in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. They will be done when the pastry is golden.
- Remove the pies from the tin immediately and place on a cooling rack.
Notes
- This quantity of pastry and mincemeat makes approximately 12 large pies. It will vary according to how thin you roll your pastry and the size of the depressions in you pie tin.
- This recipe is vegetarian (as long as you use vegetarian Mincemeat)
Keywords: Mince Pies, Christmas, baking