Nic’s Mince Pies
I love the weeks that lead up to Christmas
I love the making of the Christmas cake, the return of the Christmas Fairy who leaves a chocolate coin for each of us in our advent calendar every morning (unless she has been a bit forgetful), the decorating of the tree with all of the gaudy and truly tasteless decorations that the children once insisted on buying - along with the ones that they made at school or nursery many years ago.
I also love making, but mostly eating, mince pies hot out of the oven in the afternoon. I can’t quite remember where I originally got the mincemeat or the pastry recipe from. I have been using these same ones for at least 20 years and just adapted them when we stopped eating dairy. They are both quick and simple, making them perfect if you have small helpers or not a lot of time. As we have a few mince pie haters in our house, I usually make double pastry and make jam tarts too. Then everyone is happy.
To make the mince meat (you can make this the day, week, month or year before or just buy ready made).
(Makes one large kilner jar or about 4 small jars)
Ingredients
4/5 cooking apples (around 500g)
Around 1 kg dried fruit (I use whatever is in the house but usually a combination of raisins, sultanas, mixed peel, currants, cranberries and chopped dates. I sometimes add chopped hazelnuts in too)
4 tbsp of your favourite dark spirit (you can also use non-alcoholic spirit or apple juice)
170g of Dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp mixed spice
In a bowl mix all of the dried fruit with the spices and alcohol.
Peel, core and chop the apples into cubes. Put into a pan with a splash of water and cook on low until they are soft but retain their shape. Stir through the sugar Leave to cool.
Mix together fruit and apple mix until combined.
Decant into sterilised jars and store in a cool place.
Vegan sweet shortcrust pastry recipe
(Makes 12 mince pies)
200g flour (pastry flour is the best here but plain is fine too)
30g icing sugar
125g cold, block margarine (We use Naturli block, but Stork spread block is also dairy free)
2-3 Tbsp of cold water (if you eat eggs, you can put an egg yolk in for rich pastry)
Plant mylk
Sieve flour in to large bowl. Chop margarine into small cubes and rub into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs.
Using a cold knife, stir through the icing sugar until combined. Add the water a tbsp at a time and bring pastry together with the knife. Add more water if it seems a little dry. Form a ball with your hands and wrap in food wrap. Place in fridge for 10 minutes.
Turn oven on to 200 C.
Sprinkle flour on to a clean surface. Roll out pastry and use a circle cutter or floured glass to cut out circles. Carefully place into a patty tin. Spoon 1 tsp of mincemeat onto the pastry. Roll out the left over scraps of pastry to make little tops for the pies. We always put stars on the top of ours. Brush each top with mylk and bake in the oven for between 10-12 minutes until they are golden.
Turn on the Festive music and make some tea (Yogi Christmas tea is our family favourite).
When the pies are out of the oven dust lightly with icing sugar, put your feet up and enjoy.
Nic Shayler