Christmas Baking: Homemade fruit mince pies.

I've been baking! My mum makes the best homemade fruit mince pies! I love the fact that she does instead of buying premade ones! I no longer live at home, so although on christmas day I will eat quite a few, I have to wait till then to have hers. So I decided to try make my own. It was a hot day and my energy to go shopping was lacking, so I made the mince and pastry from what we had around. These were buttery, fruity, crumbly and delish! Traditionally fruit mince needs to sit for atleast a month before using. I was very happy to find a 30 minute sitting time recipe in this book I own.

You will need:
200 gm mixed dry fruit- I used sultanas and apricots
2 meduim green apples, grated
1/2 tbs grated lemon/orange zest
a squeeze of lemon juice
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp all spice

Throw everything in a food processor and blend until very well combined. You can mash it by hand too. A fork is best.

 

 

Taste and add more spices if you wish. Let the mixture sit for 30 minutes. Now make the pastry.

Combine 200gm plain flour, good pinch of salt with 200gm very cold butter in a food processor until it forms a ball. Add a sprinkle of ice cold water to hold the dough together. Quickly, roll the dough on a floured surface and cut rounds out. Place these in individual foil cases.( I did not, and mine stuck to the tin!)

 

 

Fill the cases with mince mixture. Brush a bit of milk over the edges and place another round on top. Brush with milk again.

 

 

 

Bake in a hot oven (220C) for about 20-25 min. The pastry should be golden. Sprinkle some caster sugar over them while they are still hot. These are very homemade looking. 'Rustic' ive been told to say! But theres something even more christmassy about homemade food so I dont mind!

 

Serve!

 

 

 

 

 

Making homemade mince pies will become a new christmas tradition for me and I can't wait to make these with Percy one day!

 

If you make these, enjoy!

 

Taz