Tis the most wonderful time of the year

10th Dec - Mince Pies

IT'S HOMEMADE WEEK - I'm both excited and anxious about this week's blogs; hopefully they turn out ok.

MINCE PIES

So the first recipe for homemade week has to be mince pies. How could it not be?

These little beauties scream Christmas and you can make so many variations. I was going to just give you one recipe - my short crust mince pies, but I've literally just seen another one on TV that I think needs to be shared with the world.

So, without further ado... Enjoy!!

Short Crust Mince Pies

This will make about 16 pies

         Ingredients
                    375g plain flour
                    260g unsalted butter, softened (just leave it at room temp for about30/45 minutes)
                    125g caster sugar,
                    2 large egg (one for the mix and one for the glaze)
                    Icing sugar for dusting

         How to make:
                    Pre-heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
                    Rub the flour and butter together in a bowl until it looks like breadcrumbs.
                    Add the sugar and egg, and mix together.
                    Lightly flour a surface and empty mix onto it.
                    Fold mix until the pastry comes together, don't over mix.
                    Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes - 60 is better.

                    Cut pastry in half (this will stop you from having to re-roll the pastry, which could over work it)
                    Roll out the pastry to 2/3mm thick.
                    Cut out 16 circular bases (10cm) and place them into a muffin/cupcake tray.
                    Then cut out slightly smaller lids (7cm) with the remaining pastry.
                    Spoon 1.5 tablespoons of mincemeat (see "2nd Dec - Mincemeat Recipe "  or buy a jar) into each pie.
                    Brush the edge with a little beaten egg and pop the lids on tip, pressing them slightly to seal.
                    If you have made a complete seal pop a little hole in the top for the steam to escape.
                    Glaze with the rest of the egg and sprinkle with a little caster sugar.
                    Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
                    Leave to cool before turning them out onto a cooling rack.
                    Finally dust with icing sugar.


Orange Pastry Mince Pies- bare with me and give this fruity twist a go..... .

Again it makes about 16 mince pies.

         Ingredients:
                    450g of plain flour
                    1 teaspoon of baking powder
                    120g of soften unsalted butter (extra for greasing)
                    1 tablespoon of caster sugar
                    140ml of orange juice
                    Zest of 2 oranges
                    1 beaten egg

         How to make:
                    Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6
                    Mix the flour, baking powder, salt and rub in the butter until the it looks like breadcrumbs.
                    Add the orange zest and mix in.
                    Gradually add the orange juice until the mixture comes together.
                    Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until smooth.
                    Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for about an hour.
                    Once chilled, roll pastry out on a lightly floured surface and cut out the pie bottoms and tops.
                    Pop the bases into the muffin/cupcake trap and add 1.5 tablespoons of the mincemeat.
                    Brush with the beat egg and then seal with the lids - cut a small slit in the top of each mince pie to let the steam escape.
                    Glaze the tops of the pies with the remaining beaten egg and sprinkle with some caster sugar
                    Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until pale golden-brown.
                    Dust with icing sugar.
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         This recipe was from the Hairy Biker - http://www.hairybikers.com

Tips:
Cold hands are great for pastries, as are cold work surfaces and rolling pin. If you have space on you freezer/fridge, chill a chopping board and rolling pin while the pastry rests.

You don't have to completely seal your pies. I have used star , Christmas tree, and snowmen cookie cutters for the lids. This will let the mincemeat mixture bubble up a little more, so they may look a little "more homemade" but I love them like this.

You don't have to use cookie cutters - I've used two different sized glasses/beakers/mugs

Try making a HUGE pie - just one and then cover it in lots of smaller stars as lids; or try mince plait/strudel. BE CREATIVE!!

You can freeze some of your uncooked pies in their tins for up to three months, just wrapped in clingfilm/gladwrap Just bake from frozen for about 20/25 minutes You can freeze them for up to 3 months.

You can also freeze any excess (I never have left over pies...), cooked, mince pies as long as they don't have any icing sugar on them. Again they will freeze for up to 3 months.

Serve warm or cold with vanilla ice-cream or brandy cream

On side note:

We finally got to the Christmas market today.

It was raining, we were ALL full of a cold (seriously I don't know how many tissues I have gone through I have lost count of the packets), and it was so packed that a pushchair probably wasn't the best idea - but we did it. We perused the stalls. We had hot chocolate. I picked up some craft presents (which I actually think I could make myself... project for next year me thinks), and we got a new Bath glass bauble to add to our tree!!!

Theia and I even got our photo taken in the giant snow globe, which was actually the main reason for going!! Yippee

I also managed to pick up presents for my sister, brother-in-law, two nieces and my nephew using my loyalty points from Guy and I, and ones from Theia. BONUS!! I just need to wrap them now.