You definitely need The Best Pastry for Mince Pies – for me it is the most important thing. Here I show you how to make my special orange Christmas pastry that I only use for mince pies. I then show you how to make the mince pies.
Slow Cooker Orange Mincemeat
If you want to make your own mincemeat I have a Slow Cooker Orange Mincemeat recipe that I use for my mince pies. But don’t worry if you don’t have time to make your own mincemeat – just buy a good quality one and add a little finely chopped apple and a good slosh of brandy and you’ll find the flavour much improved.
The Pastry
Please do try to make the pastry though – it is very straightforward and well worth the effort. My pastry recipe in fact is very similar to my mother’s recipe for rich shortcrust pastry, which I use for all my pies, both sweet and savoury. The only difference is that I add oranges and sugar.
The Best Pastry for Mince Pies
18
Mince Pies15
minutes20
minutesPastry Ingredients
8 ounces / 225 grams plain flour.
4 ounces / 110 grams salted butter.
2 ounces / 55 grams lard or white vegetable fat.
1 medium orange (Zest and juice)
1 ounce / 25 grams caster sugar.
Pastry Directions
- Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the butter and lard / white vegetable fat cut into small pieces and the zest of the orange and sugar to the flour.
- Rub the fats into the flour/sugar/orange zest mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Squeeze the juice from the orange and add 3 tablespoons of orange juice to the rubbed in mixture.
- Mix with a round bladed knife until the mixture forms clumps. Then bring it together into a ball with your fingers.
- Rest the pastry in a cool place for 30 minutes and then use it to make your mince pies.
How to make the Mince Pies using The Best Pastry for Mince Pies
Once you have made your pastry and your mincemeat you are ready to make the mince pies. You will need one or two 12 hole shallow bun trays, a 3½ inch 9cm cutter and a 3 inch 7½cm cutter. A small star shaped cutter can be used for the top of the pies instead of the 3 inch 7½cm cutter.
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Mince Pies Directions
- Take approximately two thirds of the pastry and roll out as thinly as you can. Cut out twelve rounds with the large cutter.
- Gather up the scraps and using them and the remaining third of pastry, roll out thinly and cut twelve rounds with the smaller cutter or twelve stars with the star cutter, or a mixture of both.
- If you have any pastry left use it to cut out equal numbers of larger rounds and smaller rounds or stars. I usually get up to 18 pies from this amount of pastry but it should make at least twelve. It all depends on how thinly you roll your pastry.
- Use the larger rounds to line the indentations in the bun tray. Fill them with a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat – one 1 pound / 450 grams jar should fill a minimum of twelve pies.
- Brush the smaller rounds/stars with milk and place on top of the mincemeat filling milk side down. Seal the edges of the pies by pressing them together gently with a finger tip and make three small slashes in the top with a small knife. If you are using star shapes they just need to be pressed gently into place.
- At this stage you can freeze your mince pies. Open freeze in the bun tray, then when frozen take them out and store in the freezer in a plastic box or bag. They can be cooked from frozen and will save you a lot of time at Christmas.
- If you are cooking your mince pies straight away brush with milk and bake in a pre-heated oven at 190°C fan / 210°C / Gas Mark 7 / 425°F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. When using frozen mince pies brush with milk and cook at the same temperature. They may take a few minutes longer to cook.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle with caster sugar. Leave in the bun trays for a few minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool.
- When cold they can be stored in an air tight tin for up to one week, although they rarely last that long in my house. Reheat for about 10 minutes in a moderate oven to serve warm.
Mince pies are my favourite Christmas food, but only homemade ones – the secret I believe is of course the pastry! I have yet to be fully satisfied by a shop bought mince pie and it’s not surprising that many people say they don’t like them, if all they have ever eaten are the ones available in supermarkets.
Christmas recipes
I also have a gluten free mince pie recipe – see my Gluten Free Mince Pies with a Frangipane Topping. I must say it took me quite a while to perfect this recipe – it was very handy when I ran the tea rooms as I could test it out on my customers!
Favourite Christmas recipes
I checked the other day and was very pleased to see that I now have around 20 Christmas recipes – here is a selection of my favourites:
Happy Christmas Baking!
Tanya
I have been looking for a good pastry for ages that works, is easy and the finished result tastes good, melts in the mouth and keeps well in a tin for at least a week. This recipe absolutely fits all the criteria
Brilliant thank you !
Hello Sue,
Thank you so much! I am very happy that you have found such success with my recipe!
Best wishes and thank you for getting in touch.
Tanya
Hi Tanya,
This looks like exactly the recipe I have been looking for but as I am of more advanced years would find it easier to make by machine, I have a Kenwood and Magimix, so is it possible to make with either of them ? I would have thought that in your previous life doing large numbers by hand would not have been an option !
Regards, Nick
Hi Nick,
I have never made it myself in a food processor so I can’t guarantee that it will turn out okay, but I don’t see why it shouldn’t.
If you do try it pLease let me know how it turns out.
Many thanks
Tanya