I love mince pies- made with fragrant home-made mincemeat, buttery pastry, smothered in cream or ice-cream with pots of tea is my idea of Christmas bliss… But the making of mince-pies is very fiddly and not being the most precise of people, I have decided upon a faster pie-method.
Mincemeat “Parcels”
(These are also very delicious made with apple, sprinkled with sugar… oh, yum)
For the pastry:
(I always make a lot of pastry and keep it wrapped in the fridge- keeping it chilled does wonders for pastry)
250 gms cold butter, cubed
500 gms flour
ice-cold water
In the food processor I whizz up the butter and flour until like coarse breadcrumbs (you can also do this by hand of course 🙂 )
very slowly drip in the water until it just comes together. Keeping it in the bowl, I cover it with buttered paper and leave it in the fridge for at least an hour (It keeps for up to a week)
The Parcels:
Roll the pastry out thinly, then cut out circles (I used a lovely wide coffee cup)
Into the centre of each circle I put a teaspoon of mincemeat or finely chopped apple (if using apple, sprinkle with sugar), wet half the edges of the pastry circles, fold over the circle and with a fork, press down all along the edge. Spike the top with the fork and into a hot oven for 15 minutes. Enjoy hot!!
They look lovely. I can imagine myself sitting by the fire, and having someone serve me those (with ice cream and tea). I can’t imagine it happening in MY life, exactly, but I can imagine it! 🙂