Cranberry Mince Pies

Mince pies & Glistening Cranberry Mincemeat

Super flaky pastry

 

I’m a Christmas sucker, I think that by now, everyone got that. I was watching *coughs* re-wacthing (I said sucker) one of Nigella’s TV shows, the Christmas Kitchen when I was reminded of this recipe. Good thing, as I cannot put my hand on mincemeat where I am at the moment.

Of course, I twisted the recipe because I didn’t have all the ingredients but one: recipes are made to live and two: it’s just amazing. Might cook myself some more before going to bed. Yes, I am greedy at Christmas. I have all year to burn it off again.

DOUGH RECIPE

Of course, you could buy it but it takes 5 mins and is so flaky and tasty that it is worth the effort.

• 240g/8oz plain flour
• 60g/2oz vegetable shortening (didn’t have any so used butter instead, making it a grand total of 120g/5oz butter)
• 60g/2oz cold butter, cut into small cubes
• 1 orange, juice only
• pinch salt
• 350g/12oz Christmas mincemeat (Recipe below)
• icing sugar, for dusting

You will need a miniature tart tray, each indent 4.5cm/1¾in diameter, a 5.5cm/2¼in round fluted biscuit cutter and a 4cm/1½in star-shaped pastry cutter or if you don’t have one, do not sweat it. You can make raviolis as I did. (Picture above).

1. Sift the flour into a shallow freezer-proof bowl, then add small mounds of vegetable shortening.
2. Add the butter, shake to cover it, then place into the freezer to chill for 20 minutes – This will make the pastry tender and flaky.
3. Mix the orange juice and salt in a separate bowl. Cover and leave in the fridge to chill.
4. After the 20 minutes, empty the chilled flour and shortening mixture into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to make porridge-like crumbs. (I do not have a processor so used my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer.)
5.  Gradually add the chilled salted orange juice, pulsing until the mixture is just coming together as a dough. Stop just before it comes together (even if some orange juice is left). If all the juice is used up before the dough has begun to come together, add some iced water. (Which I did, small orange. Note to self, get bigger orange)
6.  Turn the mixture out onto a clean, floured work surface and, using your hands, knead the mixture to form a dough. (To make sure I didn’t ‘heat’ the dough while doing this, I ran my hands under cold water before and dried them off)
7. Divide and shape into three equal-sized discs (you’ll need to make the mince pies in three separate batches of 12, unless you’ve got enough tart tins to make all 36 pies at once).
8.  Wrap each disc in cling film and place into the fridge to rest for 20 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
10. Remove a pastry disc from the fridge and roll out on a floured work surface thinly, but so that it will be sturdy enough to support the dense mincemeat filling. To make sure the dough stayed cold, I filled a glass bottle with ice cold water, screwed the top on it and used it as a rolling pin)
11. Using a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 12 circles a little wider than the moulds in the tart tins. Press the circles gently into the moulds.
12. Place a teaspoon of mincemeat into each pastry case.
13. Reroll any remaining dough to a similar thickness, then using a star-shaped cutter, cut out 12 stars and place each lightly onto the mincemeat filling.
14.  Transfer to the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown. Keep an eye on them as they don’t take very long to cook.
15. Remove from the oven, prising out the little pies straight away and placing onto a wire rack to cool. Allow the empty tray to cool down before repeating the steps from step 10. Repeat until you have made 36 mince pies.
16.  Dust the mince pies with icing sugar and serve.

CRANBERRY MINCEMEAT

• 75g/2½oz soft dark brown sugar (I used palm sugar. You can also use agave)
• 60ml/2fl oz ruby port
• 300g/10½oz cranberries
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• 75g/2½oz currants
• 75g/2½oz raisins
• 30g/1oz dried cranberries
• 1 clementine, zest and juice only
• 25ml/1fl oz brandy (Didn’t have any so use Cointreau Citrus instead but the normal one or Grand Marnier is fine too)
• few drops almond extract
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp honey (I used Maple syrup)

1. In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.
2. Add the cranberries and stir.
3. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves, currants, raisins, dried cranberries and the zest and juice of the clementine.
4. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has broken down and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. (You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them fully.)
5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
6.  Add the brandy, almond extract, vanilla extract and honey and stir well with a wooden spoon to mash the mixture down into a paste.
7. Spoon the mincemeat into sterilised jars and, once cool, store in the fridge or use for above.

Enjoy! I know I am!! Merry Christmas!