Desserts and Baking – Mince Pies
Method
Mincemeat 1. Wash the lemon and grate the zest using the fine side of the grater. 2. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice using a juicer. 3. Chop the cherries into small pieces. 4. Place the currants, raisins, sultanas, mixed peel and cherries in a large mixing bowl. 5. Add the brown sugar, mixed spice, nutmeg and cinnamon and stir in. 6. Add the apple juice and the lemon zest and juice. Stir to combine.
7. Peel the cooking apple and grate it using the fine side of the grater. Add the grated apple to the mixing bowl and stir well.
8. Melt the butter in a small bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir it into the mixture. 9. Leave the mixture overnight, if possible, to allow the flavours to develop. Rich shortcrust pastry 10. Preheat the oven to 200 °C/gas mark 6. 11. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.
Food For Thought
12. Cut the butter into cubes and add it to the flour. Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
13. Sieve the icing sugar into the butter and flour.
14. Beat 1 egg in a small bowl with a fork and add it to the mixture. Use the table knife to bind the mixture together until it forms a ball. Add a little cold water if needed.
15. Wrap the pastry in cling film and leave it in the fridge to chill for 10–15 minutes. Assembly
16. Melt a teaspoon of butter in a small bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Using a pastry brush, brush a shallow bun tin with the melted butter.
17. Remove the pastry from the fridge. Sprinkle your work surface with flour, tip out the pastry and lightly knead.
18. Gently roll out the pastry using a floured rolling pin until it is about 1 cm thick. Using a large scone cutter (slightly bigger than the diameter of the hole) cut out 12 circles. Place them in the greased tin.
19. Place a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat on each pastry base.
20. Gather any scraps, press them together and re-roll. Cut out shapes, e.g. stars, and place them on the top of each pie.
21. Beat an egg in a small bowl with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg onto the surface of each mince pie.
22. Bake for 15–20 minutes until golden brown.
23. Remove the tray from the oven and leave the pies to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove the pies from the tin and leave them on a wire rack to cool completely. Dust each pie with a little icing sugar.
@HOME 137
Mince pies were originally made from a mixture of minced meat, suet, fruits, and spices. The meat disappeared from the pies as sugar became more readily available in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
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