There might not be anything more quintessentially English to have around Christmas than traditional mince pies. We’re far more likely to leave a plate of mince pies out for Father Christmas (Santa) than a plate of cookies.
Now, don’t get me wrong, you know I’m a girl that loves her cookies. But mince pies? They’re just SO GOOD.
I’m going to be completely honest with you guys, I didn’t make my own mincemeat for these. I used mincemeat from a jar and honestly, I 100% recommend that you do the same.
I’ve heard mincemeat is pretty easy to make, but still being in recovery from knee surgery, standing over a pot of fruit really wasn’t in the cards for me. Maybe next year!
You know what else I did? I used my food processor to make the dough instead of making it by hand. I was cutting all kinds of corners to save my knee when I was making these and you really can’t taste the difference.
The biggest perk of using a food processor to make the dough over making it by hand is that the butter stays relatively cold because it isn’t being warmed up by toasty fingers. Using a food processor is really the smart move!
The dough for these cute little mince pies is a shortcrust pastry. We’re using flour, butter, an egg, a wee pinch of salt, and a little ice water to bring it all together. Easy peasy.
We don’t want the dough to lose it’s shape and ooze butter while it’s baking so we put the dough in the fridge for about 30 minutes, just to firm it up a little. We want it cold, but still pliable enough to roll out.
We’re using a muffin pan to make these. Roll your dough out and cut circles slightly larger than the muffin holes. We need them larger so we have a base and sides to our pies. Push each circle into the muffin pan – try not to break the pastry! If you do, don’t worry. You can just pinch it together.
Use your jar of mincemeat and fill each pie no more than 1/2-2/3 full. If it’s too full, it’ll overflow as it bakes.
Traditionally, you’ll find mince pies with a pastry lid. Personally, I like seeing some of the filling so I used festive cookie cutters to cut out shapes to put on top of the pies. I love how they turned out and how cute do they look dusted with powdered sugar?? The cutest.
Maybe leave Santa a different treat this year and surprise him with some mince pies instead of cookies. These traditional mince pies are guaranteed to give him enough energy to keep delivering gifts all night long!
Traditional Mince Pies
Ingredients
- Shortcrust Pastry:
- 350g all-purpose flour
- 225g cold unsalted butter, cubed
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- Ice water, as needed
- Filling:
- 1 jar mincemeat
- Powdered sugar, for decorating
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Step 2 To make the shortcrust pastry, place the flour, cold butter and salt in a food processor and process until the butter is in bite size pieces. Add in the beaten egg and mix together. Add the ice water, 1 tbsp at a time, until the mixture comes together as a dough.
- Step 3 Remove the dough from the food processor form into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Step 4 When ready to use the dough, dust your counter and roll 2/3 of your dough about 1/8″ thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out the circles to line your muffin pan and press the circles into the pan. It’s ok if the dough doesn’t come all the way to the top, you just want enough to come up the edges to form a wall for your pies.
- Step 5 Grab your mincemeat and spoon some into each pie, filling no more than 2/3 full.
- Step 6 Roll out your remaining dough 1/8″ thick. Either cut out circles to completely cover your pies, or cut cute shapes to top your pies so you can still see the filling. Place on top of each pie and pinch slightly to attach to the base of the pie. If you’re putting a pastry lid on top of your pie, cut a slit in them for the steam to escape.
- Step 7 Bake for 22-28 minutes, until a nice golden brown colour. We don’t want any soggy bottoms!
- Step 8 Allow them to cool, then dust with powdered sugar.
- Step 9 Enjoy!
