Easy and delicious homemade mince pies with a homemade shortcrust pastry, and homemade mincemeat filling! Delicious festive treat!
Festive bakes
So when I ask for recipe ideas, I always get quite a few of each… and I love it. Before I ever published them, my chocolate chip NYC cookies was probably the most highly requested bake I had ever done… but that has 100% been overtaken by these; mince pies.
I know it is still only November, but I honestly start the festive bakes as early as I possibly can. I am fully obsessed with Christmas, and as last Christmas was a little bit awful for everyone, I may have gone slightly overboard this year and my Christmas trees are already up.
Mince pies
One little tradition I do have however is Christmas films, Christmas music… AND MINCE PIES! This year is the year of finally posting my homemade mince pie recipe for you guys, as I cannot cope with the messages anymore requesting them haha!
I wanted to make this recipe as homemade as possible to make it worth posting, however, there is absolutely nothing wrong with using shop-bought products to make this. You can use shortcrust pastry you buy at the shop and simply roll it out the same (buy a 500g block), or even use shop-bought mincemeat.
Pastry
SO… for these mince pies… I make a sweet shortcrust pastry. I use the same pastry base really for all of my base recipes as I just love it! It’s an easy pastry to make in my opinion – and worth the effort if you want to go all the way! Shortcrust pastry is good to make as well as it’s far less stressful than other types like puff pastry.
If you want a post with how to bake the shortcrust pastry for one large tart – then use my salted caramel chocolate tart post. The timings, the tin I recommend etc is all on there! These ones, however, you need a 12 hole muffin tin like this one to be able to make these mince pies.
When you make the pastry you can either cheat and use a food processor to blitz the ingredients together, but honestly, it’s so easy with a large bowl! You need to add COLD and cubed unsalted butter into a bowl, as mentioned below – and rub it all together with your fingertips.
It’s like making a gingerbread dough – you want the mixture to rub together to resemble bread crumbs, and then add the ‘wet’ ingredients and mix to make the dough.
Tools and tips
I use these round metal cutters for my pastry base and top – I like use the fluted side for a pretty pattern, but this is completely up to you. For the base of the mince pies, I use the 11cm size cutter, and for the top I use the 7.5cm cutter! As an additional extra to use up the pastry, I used a small heart cutter!
I don’t ever see the issue with using shop-bought products – this post may be here for you purely for the timings of how long to bake the mince pies for, or how to roll them out – and that is totally okay! You can even buy shop-bought mincemeat, and then add in the spices for an extra kick – it’s up to you!
Mincemeat
For these mince pies, you don’t have to bake the pastry blind, so that skips an often annoying step! You just need to make the mincemeat. It’s often better to make the mincemeat first so it’s cooled and ready to bake – so there is a top tip for you. Also, the mincemeat lasts for up to six months in a sealed sterilised jar!
The mincemeat is surprisingly easy to make – add all the ingredients into a pan and heat and melt and stir until combined. Stir in the brandy, and you are done! Once it’s cooled, it’s ready to bake into the mince pies!
Serving mince pies
I love serving my mince pies with double cream, as it just looks so good, and it’s the classic serving choice for me – but you can use clotted cream, ice cream or even custard! It’s entirely up to you. Enjoy! x
Mince Pies
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Ingredients
Mincemeat
- 75 g raisins
- 75 g currants
- 75 g sultanas
- 75 g dried cranberries
- 50 g mixed peel
- 150 g cooking apple (finely chopped)
- 75 g unsalted butter
- 125 g light brown soft sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 150 ml brandy (or apple juice for alcohol free)
Pastry
- 350 g plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
- 200 g unsalted butter (cold & cubed)
- 25 g icing sugar
- 1 medium egg
Extras
- 1 egg beaten
Instructions
Mincemeat
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Add the raisins, currants, sultanas, dried cranberries, mixed peel, chopped cooking apple, unsalted butter, light brown soft sugar, ground cinnamon, mixed spice and lemon zest to a large pan.
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Heat the mixture together on a low heat until the unsalted butter has melted and the mixture has mixed together.
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Turn up the heat to a medium heat and simmer the mixture for about 10 minutes.
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Remove the pan from the heat and let the mixture cool.
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Once cooled, stir through the brandy.
Pastry
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Preheat the oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan, and grease and flour a 12 hole muffin tin with butter and flour.
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Add the flour to a bowl with the cold and cubed unsalted butter into the bowl, and rub the mixture together with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs.
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Add the icing sugar and 1 medium egg into the mixture and bring together with a spatula and your hand until smooth. Knead slightly in the bowl if needed.
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Roll the pastry mix out onto a lightly floured surface to the thickness of 3-4mm.
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Cut out 12, 11cm circles using a pastry cutter, and press these carefully into the muffin tray.
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Cut out 12 7cm circles using the rest of the pastry, and any decorations for your mince pies if you like.
Assembly
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In each pastry case, add 45-50g of mincemeat.
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Top with the smaller pastry circles, and seal around the edges.
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Add any extra pastry decorations.
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Brush the top of the mince pies with beaten egg to get a golden glaze.
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Bake the mince pies in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
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Leave the mince pies to cool in tthe tin for 10 minutes, and then carefully remove to cool fully.
Notes
- The mincemeat will last in sealed and sterilised jars for up to six months.
- The mince pies will last 3-4 days.
- The pastry can be kept and frozen for up to 3 months.
- You can use shopbought shortcrust pastry instead – I recommend the 500g packets.
- You can also use shopbought mincemeat instead!
- This mincemeat is based on the lovely recipe from Mary Berry with some changes!
- For alcohol free, use something such as apple juice.
- I use this muffin tin for this recipe
- I use these round cutters
- I used these heart cutters
ENJOY!
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J x
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