Mince pies are everywhere in England during the holiday season, and they are practically's D's favorite thing, so I decided to try my hand at baking them in the kitchen. To save some money and time, I bought ready-roll shortbread/shortcrust pastry from the refrigerator section in the supermarket, and 2 jars of Sainsbury's "Luxury" mincemeat.
Although the term 'mincemeat pies' did actually include beef during Victorian times, nowadays they are almost always made without any meat and contain only suet (which is a type of vegetable fat that has a low melting point) as a substitute. The mincemeat also usually contains dried raisins, sultanas, dates, and candied fruit peel, often marinated or 'matured' in brandy to give it richness. If you are not in England, you can find recipes for making home-made mincemeat on the internet and start from scratch, or give jars of mincemeat as holiday gifts.
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/180C. Roll out the pastry on a well-floured surface to about 3mm (1/8") thickness. Using a 3" round pastry cutter, cut 12 rounds out of the rolled pastry and place one round in each hole of a muffin or bun tin sprayed with oil or lightly buttered. You can use either a 'bun tin', or a regular muffin/cupcake tin like I did, in which case, the pastry rounds won't reach the top of the tin.
2. Next, scoop about 1 heaping teaspoon of mincemeat into each pastry cup.
3. Roll out the remaining dough again and cut out 12 stars using a 3-inch star-shaped cutter, or if not available, cut a 2nd disk for the top using a slightly smaller round cutter and use a fork to poke a set of vents in the top of each pie.
3. Bake at for about 20 minutes, or until pies are golden brown.
Leave pies in tin for 2-3 minutes after baking, then turn
out onto a cooling rack and let cool completely.
Dust pie tops with powdered sugar (icing sugar) and serve.
Merry Christmas!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment