Mince Pies with Homemade Mincemeat

Before you start

Modern mince pies contain no meat. The filling, called mincemeat, is a sticky mix of dried fruit, grated apple, citrus, brown sugar, fat and warm spices, often with a splash of brandy. Most recipes leave it to mature in jars for weeks; this version simmers it for 10 minutes so the fat melts and coats the fruit, and it is ready to use as soon as it cools.

The pastry should be short and buttery enough to crumble at the first bite, but sturdy enough to hold a lid. Keep the dough cold, roll it thin, and do not overfill: one heaped tablespoon per pie is plenty, and extra filling bubbles out and burns. Serve them warm with brandy butter, cream or custard.

Ingredients

• Quick mincemeat1 small (about 100 g) tart apple, such as Granny Smith — peeled and coarsely grated
• 100 g (⅔ cup) raisins
• 60 g (⅓ cup) dried currants
• 40 g (¼ cup) candied mixed peel, chopped
• 60 g (⅓ cup packed) dark brown sugar
• 40 g (3 tbsp) vegetable suet or cold unsalted butter — butter grated
• ½ orange, zest and 2 tbsp juice
• ½ lemon, finely zested
• 1 tsp mixed spice (or ½ tsp cinnamon, ¼ tsp nutmeg and a pinch of cloves)
• 2 tbsp (30 ml) brandy or dark rum — optional
• Pastry300 g (2½ cups, spooned and leveled) all-purpose flour
• 50 g (⅓ cup plus 1 tbsp) powdered sugar
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 180 g (¾ cup plus 1 tbsp) unsalted butter — cold, cubed
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 to 4 tbsp ice water
• Finish2 tbsp milk, for brushing
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar

Method

1. Put all the mincemeat ingredients except the brandy in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, until the fat has melted, the sugar has dissolved and the apple is soft. Spread it on a plate to cool, then stir in the brandy if using. You should have about 420 g.
2. For the pastry, rub the butter into the flour, powdered sugar and salt until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Mix the yolk with 3 tablespoons of water and stir it in with a knife, adding more water by the teaspoon until the dough just holds. Flatten into a disc, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
3. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Roll the pastry to 3 mm (⅛ in) thick and cut 12 rounds with the larger cutter. Press them gently into the tin. Gather the scraps, reroll and cut 12 lids with the smaller cutter.
4. Spoon a heaped tablespoon of mincemeat (about 30 g) into each case. Keep the filling level with or slightly below the pastry edge.
5. Brush the edges of the cases with milk and set the lids on top, pressing lightly to seal round lids. Cut a small slit in round lids so steam escapes; star lids need no slit. Brush the tops with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
6. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the filling just bubbles at the vents. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then twist each pie gently to free it and move them to a rack.

Tips for success

• Rich pastry with this much butter softens fast. If it cracks or sticks while rolling, chill it for 10 minutes rather than adding flour.
• Chill the filled, lidded tin for 15 minutes before baking if your kitchen is warm. Cold pastry holds its shape and keeps a crisper edge.
• Leftover mincemeat is good stirred into apple crumble filling or spooned into baked apples.

Substitutions

Vegetable suet

Grated cold butter gives a richer, slightly greasier filling. Packaged vegetable suet often contains wheat flour, so check the label if you bake for someone avoiding gluten.

Brandy

Use 2 tbsp orange juice for an alcohol-free filling. The mincemeat will be a little less rounded but keeps well in the fridge for about 1 week.

Homemade mincemeat

Use 360 g good store-bought mincemeat. Stirring in 1 tbsp fresh orange zest freshens the flavor.

Variations

Frangipane mince pies

Skip the lids. Top each pie with 1 tbsp frangipane and a few flaked almonds and bake 20 to 22 minutes.

Crumble-top mince pies

Rub 40 g butter into 50 g flour and 30 g brown sugar and scatter it over the filling instead of lids.

Troubleshooting

Filling leaked and the pies stuck to the tin

The cases were overfilled or the lids were not sealed. Use 30 g per pie, seal round lids well and loosen the pies while warm.

The pastry shrank and the lids slid off

The dough was stretched or warm. Press it into the tin without pulling, and chill the assembled pies before baking.

Pale, soft bases

Bake on the middle rack and give them the full time. A dark metal tin browns the bases better than silicone.

Storage

Keep baked pies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, and warm them briefly before serving. They freeze, baked or unbaked, for up to 3 months; bake unbaked pies from frozen, adding 5 minutes. Refrigerate leftover mincemeat in a clean jar and use it within 2 weeks.

Safety notes

Do not taste the raw dough, which contains raw flour and egg yolk. Some alcohol may remain in the baked filling if you use brandy. Contains wheat, egg and milk, and possibly wheat in packaged suet.