The Ultimate Mince Pies- mince pies in shortcrust pastry, topped with frangipane and lemon icing. The ultimate Christmas treat.
Most people fall into one of two categories when it comes to mince pies. You're either beside yourself with excitement when you see the first packet in the shops and you have to buy some straight away, or you can easily wait until Christmas day and you wouldn't be that bothered if you didn't end up having one that year. If you're in the first camp, then it's that special time of year- Mince pies are everywhere you look!
There seem to be a dizzying array of options on the mince pie front these days: standard mince pies, puff pastry mince pies, luxury mince pies, iced mince pies, mini mince pies and so on.You could probably buy a different type every week from now until Christmas! Shop-bought mince pies are really good, but home-made ones always taste that little bit better. If you want the easy version, try making my Cheat's Mince Pies
This year, I decided to make mince pies with a difference. These 'Ultimate Mince Pies' have a shortcrust pastry base with a mincemeat filling which is topped with frangipane and then iced with a lemon icing. Delicious! I prefer them to a standard mince pie, as I often find the mincemeat filling a bit too rich in those. Using frangipane reduces how much mincemeat you need and adds a cake-like element. I topped them with lemon icing, but if you're not a fan, you could swap the lemon juice for water. If you don't want to make your own pastry, you can use a 500g block of shop-bought shortcrust and it will work beautifully.
I'm sure these 'Ultimate Mince Pies' could win over some of the hardened 'don't care about mince pies' people of the world!
Make Ultimate Mince Pies
For a printable recipe card with full details, scroll to the end of this post.
When you've made the pastry and the frangipane, cut pastry circles for the tart tin and spoon mincemeat into them. Add the frangipane on top and bake.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
Make the icing and spoon onto the mince pies.
If using decorations, add before the icing sets.
mince pies, Christmas, frangipane
dessert, snacks
British
The Ultimate Mince Pies
The Ultimate Mince Pies- mince pies in shortcrust pastry, topped with frangipane and lemon icing. The ultimate Christmas treat.
prep time: 1 hourcook time: 20 minstotal time: 1 hours and 20 mins
ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 225g plain flour
- 100g butter, cold
- 2-3 tbsp water
For the filling:
- 125g butter, softened
- 125g caster sugar
- 100g ground almonds
- 1 egg
- 50g self raising flour
- 7 tbsp mincemeat
For the icing:
- 175g icing sugar
- 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 200 (180 fan, gas mark 4).
2. To make the pastry, cut the cold butter into cubes and rub it into the plain flour until it is as close to breadcrumbs as you can get it.
3. Add the water and mix until it comes together, then briefly knead until you have a firm dough.
4. Wrap it in clingfilm and put it in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
5. Cream the softened butter and the caster sugar together until smooth.
6. Add the ground almonds, egg and flour and mix together until you have a batter. Don't over-mix because you don't want to introduce too much air.
7. Grease a shallow bun/tart tin.
8. When the dough has chilled, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is 1 cm thick.
9. Use a cutter that is 1-2 cm more in diameter than your tart tin holes and cut out up to 20 rounds.
10. Gently push them into the greased tin and then put 1 tsp of mincemeat into each one.
11. Cover the mincemeat with 2 tsp of frangipane batter. Try not to overfill, as it will spill over the edge when it starts cooking.
12. Pop them into the oven for 20 mins, or until golden brown and cake-like on top. If they wobble when you try to take them out, they are not done yet.
13. After a couple of minutes, use a teaspoon to dislodge them from the tin. They should slide straight out. Put them on a cooling rack. Use a sharp knife to gently shave off any major overspills.
14. Mix the icing sugar and the lemon juice together until smooth and thick.
15. When the pies have cooled, carefully spoon small amounts of the icing and let it spread across the top until it has covered most of the frangipane.
16. Decorate if you wish.
calories
227
227
fat (grams)
11
11
sat. fat (grams)
7
7
carbs (grams)
31
31
protein (grams)
2
2
sugar (grams)
19
19
Created using The Recipes Generator
These look good- I just don't know what mincemeat is exactly? Thanks for sharing on the What's for Dinner link up!
ReplyDeleteAh mincemeat is a very traditional British creation, centuries old. It's basically dried fruit and mixed peel soaked in brandy and mixed with suet, apple, nutmeg, lemon juice and brown sugar. Mince pies are traditional Christmas fare, but these days they start selling them in September and you can still get them in February, which makes my husband happy because he's a mince pie fanatic!
ReplyDeleteJon's always telling me I should make mince pies with a frangipane topping (because he loves anything almond) but so far I've failed him. I love the idea of adding the lemon icing too, I'd imagine it goes really well :-)
ReplyDeleteYes- I love frangipane too. It improves almost anything!
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