Vegetarian mince pies
Rich and fruity vegetarian mince pies, with zesty pastry and boozy apple mincemeat.
This recipe makes 16 medium-sized mince pies.
Try and make your mincemeat at least a week in advance, so it has time to mature. The mincemeat recipe makes enough to fill three jam jars.
Ingredients
For the mincemeat- 1 large cooking apple, peeled, cored and cut into large chunks
- 2 oranges, finely grated zest and juice
- 125 g butter, chilled and grated
- 140 g raisins
- 280 g sultanas
- 60 g mixed candied peel, chopped
- 325 g soft light brown sugar
- 30 g walnuts, chopped
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 35 ml brandy
- 200 g plain (all-purpose) flour, sifted
- 1 tbsp icing (confectioners') sugar, plus extra for dusting
- 100 g chilled butter, cubed
- 1 medium egg, beaten, plus extra for glazing
- 1 x half an orange, zest only
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Dessert
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 15 mins
- Serves: 16
Step-by-step
- For the mincemeat: chuck the apple chunks into a small saucepan with a splash of water (about 1 teaspoon). Cover the pan and cook on a low heat for no longer than 10 minutes, until the apple is pulpy. Allow to cool.
- Combine the pulpy apple with the remaining ingredients in a large bowl, then store in sterilized jars. The longer your mincemeat matures, the tastier it will be.
- For the pastry: place the flour, sugar, orange zest, butter and a pinch of salt in a food processor and blitz quickly. Add half the beaten egg and continue to blend. If it doesn't come together, add a little more egg. Be careful, though – too much egg and it will make the pastry sloppy.
- Flatten out the ball of dough until it is about 2cm/1inch thick, then wrap in cling film or place in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/gas mark 6. Brush a muffin tin with melted butter or a very little sunflower oil.
- On a floured (or icing sugared) work surface, roll out the pastry to 3mm thick and cut out 16 circles for the bases using a 6cm/2inch cutter for medium-sized pies. Use a smaller cutter (we like to use a star-shaped or snowflake-shaped one) to cut out 16 stars for the lids.
- Line the holes of the tin with the larger pastry rounds. Fill each base with a teaspoon of mincemeat and top with a star/snowflake pastry lid. Brush the tops of the mince pies with beaten egg, or a little milk.
- Bake in the oven for 10–15 minutes until pale golden, with the mincemeat bubbling around the edges. Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Image: Anna Shepulova/Shutterstock
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