MMMMMMMMince Pies! (Baking)

Member Name: ButterBear

Product:	Baking
Date:	20/12/08 (138 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Yummy festive treat

Disadvantages: Boozy ones will get you arrested if you drive after too many! ;)

There are endless different recipes for mince pies and also a lot of short cuts, the shortest of course being "go buy them from the shop" but it's Christmas time and it's nice to make a little effort, to have the smell of freshly baked mince pies waft through your house as you sit down with a nice hot chocolate, today is my day for baking this years mince pies so while they are cooling on the wire tray I thought I'd share my version of the Christmas classic.

Equipment you need-
Well an oven is a good start and it will need pre-heating, I usually heat it at around 180 c/ 350 f/ gas mark 4, however you will need bun/baking trays, a rolling pin, 2 round pastry cutters one of which is slightly smaller, 1 pastry brush, a cup, a wire cooling rack, tablespoons, teaspoon and a knife.

I'll provide the ingredients for the mince and pastry later but you will also need an egg, milk and sugar.



The Mince-
It is best to prepare your mince the evening before baking, a jar version will be fine but you can also make your own which will require;

*Dried fruit of your chosen variety-raisins, sultanas, cranberrys, orange
*Apples
*Lemon and Orange rind
*Juice from said orange or lemon if you want a tangy mince, Brandy or wine for a boozy
mince or jam for a sweet mince.
*Ground/powdered cinnamon (or nutmeg, cloves, ginger, if you're a fan)

The amount of ingredients you need will vary on which fruits you choose, however you're aiming for around 400g.

Firstly I like to stew and puree the apples, a good Bramley apple will be perfect although others are fine, I'm not keen on too much crunch in my mince plus it helps bind the dried fruit together if you puree the apples.

Pour your chosen dried fruit directly into a bowl for a mince with larger fruit, if you want smaller fruit chunks then give it all a quick blitz in a blender first but be sure not to reduce it to puree. Add the grated lemon and orange rind and a sprinkling of the cinnamon or whatever spice you've chosen, give it all a good stir and then pour in a small amount of fruit juice and the apple puree. Mix it all together and leave over night to stand, this allows the juice to really get into the fruit making it nice and zesty, if making a boozy mince add whatever type you've chosen and, as with the juice, leave over night for it all to be soaked into the fruit mixture. If you're making a sweeter mince then add a generous amount of mixed fruit jam or even marmalade and make sure it's well mixed in, this will create a lovely glazed look in the mince.


The pastry-
Again you can buy this pre-made but I like to use a crisp butter pastry for a nice bite complete with rich buttery taste, you will need (makes approx 16 topped or 24 topless pies)

*8oz Plain Flour
*6oz Butter
*¼ teaspoon salt
*4 tablespoons water (approx)

Sieve the flour and salt (can be left out for healthier recipe) into a bowl and add the butter (or margarine) knead the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles breadcrumbs, I believe this is called "rubbing" it together, I like to use a blender or a fork to do this as I hate the sticky mixture on my hands but it does take longer this way. When you've got a bread crumb like mixture add in your 4 tablespoons of water and mix together until it begins to form a dough, again I start this with a mixer or a fork but move on to using my hands when most of the dough is formed. Once all the ingredients are formed into dough knead for a few minutes before wrapping in cling film and cool in the fridge for 30 minutes.


Assembling the pies-
Sprinkle some flour onto your surface and unwrap your dough placing it on top the flour, lightly cover the rolling pin in flour and then begin rolling your dough until it is nice and thin, you don't want too much pastry and no mince after all. Use the larger of the pastry cutters to cut out 12 circles and place them in the baking tray, it's best to start with just 12 if you want to make pies with tops just in case you run out of pastry near the end. Spoon some of the mince mixture into the pastry bases and then re-roll the pastry, this time cutting smaller circles.

Now here's where the pastry brush and cup come in, mix the egg and some milk in a cup and coat each small pastry circle in the mixture before placing it on top the base, this will help the edges seal preventing mixture bubbling out of the sides and will also create a nice golden shine once they're baked.

Once all the pies are topped make sure they have an even coating of the egg mix, pierce a small cross in the top of each pie in order to stop the lids popping or splitting with the build up of heat and then sprinkle them all with sugar.

Repeat this with the remaining pastry until it is all used up and then place all the pies in the oven. They can take from 15 minutes to half an hour to cook, at 180c/350f/gas 4, but I usually go by appearance and when they look nice and golden on top you can take them out of the over to cool.

If you've made topped pies then once they're cool enough you can tuck in, careful if you've gone for the boozy ones though! Personally I liked iced ones best so once the pies are completely cool I whip up a nice batch of festive coloured icing and completely coat the tops of the pies with a nice thick layer, delicious!

Happy Christmas everyone!

Summary: A delicious family favourite.