Christmas Fruit Mince Pies With Light Pastry
It’s not December until the first batch of Mince Pies are in the oven! These are decadent little sweet, fruity, spicy, jammy mini-pies made with buttery shortcrust pastry cases and traditionally served in Britain at Christmas time…I grew up making and eating these every Christmas, and I have tried MANY different mince pies in my life. These Christmas Fruit Mince Pies With Light Pastry are the very best, they are nothing short of AMAZING!
These little guys are SO GOOD….Sweet, spicy & rich with a light, crumbly pastry case. Funny how we don’t give them a single thought the whole year, but when December hits – Mince Pies MUST be made and enjoyed almost on a daily basis until New Years Eve. At least that’s how it has always been in my family.
I suppose that’s what makes mince pies and especially Christmas Fruit Mince Pies With Light Pastry, so special.
There are so many little traditions that each family has around this time of year that we sort of take for granted because it’s the norm for us. But as I’m sitting here thinking about how my family will be scattered across the globe this Christmas, I’m reminded of how even the smallest of things – like a little Mince Pie tradition – can mean a lot.
Now, I’m not sure about you, but I’ve always wondered why this sweet little pie is referred to as a “mince” pie which doesn’t conjure up sweet & spicy thoughts at all (I promise, there is no meat to be found in these sweet little pies – they are 100% vegetarian ;))…So I found out, and it’s rather interesting. I thought you might like to know too:
A mince pie is a fruit-based sweet pie of British origin that is traditionally served during the Christmas season in the English-speaking world. Its ingredients are traceable to the 13th century, when returning European crusaders brought with them Middle Eastern recipes containing meats, fruits and spices.
The early mince pie was known by several names, including mutton pie, shrid pie and Christmas pie. Typically its ingredients were a mixture of minced meat, suet, a range of fruits, and spices such as cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Served around Christmas, the savoury Christmas pie (as it became known) was associated with supposed Catholic “idolatry” and during the English Civil War was frowned on by the Puritan authorities. Nevertheless, the tradition of eating Christmas pie in December continued through to the Victorian era, although by then its recipe had become sweeter and its size reduced markedly from the large oblong shape once observed. Today the mince pie remains a popular seasonal treat enjoyed by many across the United Kingdom.
There you go! That makes sense. Thanks Wikipedia.
You might also love my Berry Apricot Almond Tarts, my Rich Caramel Pecan Pear Pie, check out How To Make The Perfect Christmas Cake, my Baked Vanilla Cheesecake With Cherry Coulis, my Dairy & Sugar Free Almond Chocolate Truffles and my Zesty Orange Honey Layer Cake.
I still bake my mince pies in my gran’s amazing (very old, and a little wonky) mince pie pan, which is basically a mini-pie pan. You can manage with a metal mini muffin pan, or something similar, so long as the cups are shallow, my mince pie pan is about 5cm in diameter and about 2cm deep.
If you’re new to mince pie making, you might be wondering what you would serve them with? Well, mince pies can be enjoyed with a cup of tea or coffee, I’d say this would be the most common time to enjoy one of these decadent treats, but they are also traditionally brought out for dessert on Christmas day, along with Christmas fruit pudding, and either cream, ice cream, custard or brandy butter! Wow, the indulgence! But that’s what Christmas is all about.
To make Christmas Fruit Mince Pies With Light Pastry from scratch, all you do is:
- Mix up a batch of shortcrust pastry, it’s the simplest pastry recipe known to man, if you find pastry making a little bit daunting, this is the pastry for you! Rest the pastry for 10 minutes in the fridge
- Roll the pastry out to 3mm thick, cut out big circles for the base, and smaller circles for the lids (or stars, or hearts, whatever you like!), place the bases into the mince pie pan, then spoon in a little dollop of mince meat filling (AKA yummy spicy, fruity, jammy deliciousness in a jar), top with the pastry lids, score with a fork, brush with milk
- Bake in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes until golden and perfect!
I only got around to making my mince pies rather late this year, usually I’ll make a big batch at the beginning of December, keep some out to eat, and freeze the rest.
These Christmas Fruit Mince Pies With Light Pastry freeze extremely well, you can:
- Freeze them right out of the oven, once they have cooled, store them in an airtight container and into the freezer they go!
- Take them out as you need them, pop them into a 180°C (350°F) oven for about 6 minutes, and they literally look and taste like you JUST made them! Such a handy little trick for Christmas time
- OR, if you know they’re going to get eaten right up (because you’re like me and you’ve been tardy with your baking duties this year! Oops), then store them in an airtight container and leave them out of the fridge if the weather is cool, or keep them in the fridge if it’s very warm
- They will keep for up to a week at room temperature depending on the weather
Now the only question is, how many mince pies does Santa eat? I’d say 4 or 5, at a guess, any less would be stingy. I remember my aunt always used to put out mince pies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. Gee, I wonder who ate them??
Happy Christmas baking to you, friend! Drop me a little note in the comments if you make these, I’d love to hear how they turn out.
These are decadent little sweet, fruity, spicy, jammy mini-pies made with buttery shortcrust pastry cases and traditionally served in Britain at Christmas time.
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/3 cup butter cold
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup sour cream or fresh cream with some lemon juice to sour
- 1 jar fruit mincemeat (I use Safari Mincemeat)
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TO MAKE THE PASTRY:
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Place the flour in a bowl and rub the butter into the flour using your fingers until it looks like fine crumbs.
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Add the salt and sour cream and mix with a metal spoon until the pastry comes together. Form into a ball with your hands, place in a plastic bag and rest in the fridge overnight.
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TO MAKE THE MINCE PIES:
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Preheat oven to 180°C.
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On a clean, floured surface, roll out the pastry nice and thin, and cut out circles for the base and stars for the top.
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Place the base circles into an un-greased mince pie tin (or shallow cupcake tin), spoon in 1 heaped tsp of mincemeat into each pie. Wet the corners of the stars with a little milk and place on top, pressing down lightly in the corners so that they stick to the base pastry. Brush the stars gently with some milk and then use a fork to make 4 little holes in the middle of the stars to let out the steam.
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Bake in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes until they are golden. Then do the second batch.
If you don’t have time to leave the pastry in the fridge overnight, rest it in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours. If you don’t have a star pastry cutter, use a slightly smaller circle than the circle cutter you are using for the base. Stick them down in the normal way with a little milk around the edges. Brush gently with milk, and use a fork to make a row of little holes on the top to let the steam out.
