I do love a mince pie, but it has to be said, not all mince pies are created equal. There are those that are just way too heavy on the pastry front (my pet hate) and those with tasteless mince meat. There are those who lack character and those that just don’t look the part.
My open top puffy mince pies tick all the boxes in my book, they look cute, taste terrific, have a character all their own, are light and puffy and boy oh boy are these guys moreish!
I’ve used my own sugar free vegetarian mincemeat in this quick and easy recipe for mince pies, but you can of course use any mincemeat you like.
Karon x
Quick And Easy Mince Pies
Prep Time10 mins
Cook Time12 mins
Total Time22 mins
Ingredients
- 300 g/11oz pot of ready made custard or make your own, but why bother
- 6 tablespoons ground almonds
- 375 g/13oz pack of ready rolled puff pastry
- 18 teaspoons of Very Merry Mincemeat
- Flaked Almonds about 2 tablespoons
- Icing sugar to dust
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7
- Lightly grease an 18 hole tart tin
- Unwrap the pastry and reroll to make it a little thinner, I made mine about 2mm/1/8th inch thick and cut out 18 rounds using a 7cm/3" cookie cutter. Place these into the tart tins.
- Reroll the scraps of pastry and cut out little heart or star shapes using a mini cutter. Set these aside while you fill the pie cases.
- Mix the ground almonds into the custard and spoon a tablespoon of this into each pie base.
- Now add a teaspoon of your Very Merry Mincemeat and scatter on a few of the flaked almonds.
- Top with a tiny pastry star or heart and give this a little dab of milk to glaze.
- Pop into the oven and bake for approximately 10-12 minutes or until the pastry has puffed and is golden.
- Lightly dust with a little icing sugar for a snowy festive look.
- Leave in the tin to cool for a few minutes before carefully easing them out.
- Serve warm.
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