Christmas is the time for food, good songs and sharing. It is a great time to put your apron on for the kitchen.
Junk Mail has got the kitchen warmed up with our Festive Recipes. This section will feature everything from starters to the main course.
Today we will put up the Mince Pie Recipe.
This is fairly easy, you will need the following:
- 50g each of sultanas and raisans.
- 1 apple, cored and grated.
- 50g dark muscovado sugar
- 50g luxury mixed candied peel, finely chopped
- 25g cherries, roughly chopped
- zest of 1 orange
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- ½ tablespoon mixed spice
- 25g fresh white breadcrumbs
- 60ml brandy
For the Pastry
- 75g icing sugar
- 75g unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 medium egg yolks
- 200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons milk
- Caster sugar, for dusting
Mix together all the mincemeat ingredients, cover and set aside overnight. To prepare the pastry mix the sugar, butter and egg yolks until smooth. Mix in 2 tablespoons cold water, then mix in the flour and salt and knead into a ball on a floured surface. Wrap in clingwrap and allow to cool for 15 mins.
Preheat oven to 190°C. Roll pastry out on to a surface covered in flour. Cut out 24 circles, using a 7cm cutter, and line two 12-hole tins. Combine pastry trimmings into a ball, cover and leave to cool.
Stir the ingredients, filling each case with 1 tablespoon. Roll out the remaining pastry and use a cookie cutter to make tops for the pies. Place one on each pie, brush with milk, dust over with sugar. Bake for 20 mins. Transfer on to wire racks and, once cool, store in an airtight container for up to two days.
We hope you enjoy making and eating your mince pies this Christmas! Feedback is welcome and appreciated on the Junk Mail blog. We would love to hear your thoughts about this recipe, so please comment on this post.
Feel free to check out the following festive posts on the Junk Mail blog. You might find them interesting:
