Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Fruit mince pies


Good morning everyone! It's wacky Wednesday, and today as promised, I will reveal what I did with some of my fruit mince.


We had a bake sale to raise money for the Salvation Army on Monday, so one of the treats that I made was fruit mince pies. These are a traditional British Christmas treat that we have imported. They consist of a shortcrust pastry shell filled with fruit mince, and topped with more shortcrust pastry - often in a fancy shape like a star or a heart.

The dough recipe that I used, from the Australian Good Food Christmas Baking supplement (December 2009), was very short and buttery indeed - which meant that I had a very hard time making the pies in the exceptionally hot weather that we've had. Also, it meant that the pies were quite flaky and crumbly, so they didn't travel well between my house and work. I can't comment on the taste, because I donated all the pies, but if you have a yen to try these, the recipe is as follows:

300g sifted plain flour
1/4 teaspoon sifted baking powder
185g chopped butter
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup
fruit mince
1 eggwhite

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius, and grease 2 x 12 hole patty cake tins. (These are smaller than muffin tin holes, so if you don't have patty tins, you can use mini tart moulds.)

Put the sifted flour and baking powder into a bowl, and rub in the butter until it forms crumbs. Mix in the egg yolks and lemon juice to form a dough.

Knead the dough lightly, then divide it into two pieces, press each piece into a disc, and wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

Remove the dough from the fridge. Roll out half of the pastry to 3mm thickness, then using a 6.5cm round cutter, cut out 24 circles and place into the patty tins or tart moulds.

Put 2 teaspoons of fruit mince into each pie shell. Roll out the remainder of the dough to 5mm thick, and using a star or heart shaped cutter, cut out 24 shapes and use these to top the pies. (I didn't have quite enough dough, so I topped 4 of my pies with leftover gingerbread dough.)

Brush the tops of the pies with the lightly beaten eggwhite, then bake the pies for 20 minutes or until golden. Leave the pies to cool in their tins; this is important because they are quite fragile due to the flaky nature of the pastry. To serve, remove the pies from their tins and dust with icing sugar.

Fruit mince pies are usually enjoyed as an afternoon tea treat with coffee or tea.

Hope your Christmas preparations are coming along nicely!

10 comments:

Hindy said...

These looks lovely! I don't know why but I see faces in the tarts. Do they look like kittens to you?
(Or maybe I've just eaten too many ables today.)

Anonymous said...

They look so pretty with the star shape on top! I imagine that the fruit mince in a buttery crust would taste quite good!

Maria said...

Great recipe for the holidays

Jennifer said...

Mmmmmm. How I wish I could have been a customer at that bake sale.:) Those mince pies are so beautiful!

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Ooh what cute little star shapes at the top! I know that I'd have to ration these around my husband! :P

Finla said...

I hav enot yet started the christmas preperation. My oven got broken and yesterday got a new oven, they will come to connect it today.
So i guess will only start baking after i get to know the oven.
Mince pie looks so so yumm.

Barbara said...

Lovely little mince pies and I salute your courage in passing them along before tasting them!

Ivy said...

These look so cute and pretty with the star on top.

Faith said...

I love mince, but I've never made it...I'll have to give it a try! These are so pretty! I love the individual-sized portions.

Nutmeg Nanny said...

Oh my goodness! I love these little pies. They are so adorable :)