These easy mince pies with a foolproof sweet shortcrust pastry are super quick to make and so simple, you'll be making batch after batch in the run-up to Christmas. A slightly sweetened pastry strikes the perfect balance with the dried fruit mincemeat. Homemade mince pies are delicious and cheaper than shop-bought ones, plus there's no packaging. The shortcrust pastry is not too dry and easy to make in a food processor. If you don't have a food processor, you can still make the recipe by hand. The prep time is just 10 minutes.
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Christmas and the Holiday Season can be busy when it comes to food. These easy Christmas Recipes will make life a lot easier. For the main event, check out my Honey Roast Gammon or step-by-step instructions for cooking Christmas Dinner for two - as featured in the Huffington Post. A Salmon en Croute is perfect for entertaining and you'll want to save my tips on How to Store your Turkey plus leftover recipe ideas.
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Ingredients
Gather your ingredients
- Plain Flour or All Purpose Flour - shortcrust pastry is made with plain flour.
- Ground Almonds - these add a lovely nutty flavour to the pastry. If you are allergic to nuts, you can leave out the almonds and substitute with the same quantity of plain flour. This is important to keep the same dry to wet ratio in the recipe.
- Butter - I always use unsalted butter for baking.
- Golden Caster Sugar - I've used golden caster sugar. Golden caster sugar is unrefined and contains some molasses, while caster sugar is refined and has no molasses. Use whichever one you have or are used to.
- Mincemeat - Sweet mincemeat is a mixture of dried fruit, spices, sugar, and fat, traditionally used at Christmas. You can buy ones with different flavours added such as brandy, amaretto, or clementines.
See recipe card for quantities.
Instructions
I often make a batch of these mince pies. I recommend however just mixing up the pastry quantity in the recipe card (serves 12) at a time as otherwise your mixer might not be able to cope. The actual mixing takes less than 2 minutes, so just repeat until you have all the pastry you need.
Mix all the ingredients, apart from the egg, together in the food processor until it resembles crumbs then slowly add the egg and wait until the pastry forms. Switch off and remove the pastry from the mixer.
By Hand. Mix the dry ingredients together then rub in the unsalted butter with your hands until you get a crumb consistency before adding the egg and kneading it together to form the pastry.
Place the pastry in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to cool. If you're storing it longer than 30 minutes, wrap it in beeswax or clingfilm to stop it drying out.
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C /400°F/gas mark 6. Grease a 12-hole baking tray with oil or butter. Sprinkle a little flour on the work surface and roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick. Use 2 different-sized pastry cutters. Cut out the bottoms using the larger cutter and the medium-sized one for the tops.
Place the bottoms in the pie tray, add a spoonful of mincemeat to the centre, brush the edges with a little milk to help the lids stick, and place the lids on top. Press the edges together lightly using your fingers and prick the top with a fork to allow steam to escape.
Place in the oven on a middle shelf for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before transferring to a cooling rack.
Top Tips
Always make sure the butter is cold from the fridge when making pastry. Warm butter will make your pastry feel greasy.
When rolling out the pastry, dust the surface with a little plain flour to stop it from sticking and roll out to a thickness of about 3 mm. I also find it helps to dust the rolling pin and the pastry cutters.
Equipment
You will need:-
- A 12-hole baking tray.
- 2 pastry cutters, one large for the bottom and 1 medium for the top.
- Scales to weigh out your ingredients.
- A food processor to mix the ingredients. See instructions for how to do this by hand if you don't have one.
- Pastry brush.
- Rolling pin.
- Cooling rack.
Serving Suggestion
Mince pies are delicious on their own. Shake a little icing sugar over the top to look like snow (!) You can also serve them with brandy butter, creme fraiche, cream or ice cream. They are also lovely with hot or cold custard.
Storage
Homemade mince pies will keep for one week if stored in an airtight container. They don't need to be kept in the fridge. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. You need to freeze them in their trays so they keep their shape. Once frozen, you can then transfer to another container. You can also freeze them before they have been cooked. Again, you need to freeze them in their trays to keep their shape before transferring them to another container. Defrost thoroughly before cooking.
Sustainability
Making your mince pies is a more sustainable option than shop-bought ones as homemade ones use a lot a lot less packaging. Sugar and ground almonds can be bought as Fairtrade items.
Green Tip
If you have any shortcrust pastry left over, it will keep in the fridge for 1 - 2 days. You can also freeze it. Wrap it carefully to prevent freezer burn and store it in the freezer for 3 - 6 months. Make sure it is thoroughly defrosted before use. Alternatively, it is easy to make little pinwheels with it that you can cook with the mince pies. Just roll the pastry out, spread it with a little jam, peanut butter, or chocolate spread, roll it up and bake for 10 - 15 minutes.
FAQ
You need to grease the baking tray to stop your mince pies sticking. Use butter or an oil such as vegetable oil. The oil is easiest to apply with an aerosol. You can also use a brush to apply a light covering to the tin. Make sure you grease the holes and also grease around the edges as this is where the pies are most likely to stick. Wait until the pies have cooled slightly before removing them from the tray. Take them out before they go properly cold.
I think mince pies are always best served warm and yes you can reheat them. You don't want to cook them again so reheat them in the oven at a low temperature of 120°C / 250°F /gas mark 1 for just 3 - 4 minutes. Cover them loosely with foil to prevent the tops from browning. Individual mince pies can also be reheated in a microwave for about 15 seconds. Take care as mincemeat can get very hot!
You can glaze your mince pies with a little milk or beaten egg. This will give them a slightly darker appearance. This is entirely optional and you don't have to glaze them at all.
More Christmas Recipes
Looking for more Christmas recipes like this? Try these:
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📖 Recipe
Easy Mince Pies with Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
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Equipment
- 12 hole cake tin
- 2 pastry cutters about 7.5cm and 6.5cm in diameter
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Pastry brush
- Weighing Scales
- Food processor or see instructions by hand.
Ingredients
- 200 g plain flour organic
- 40 g golden caster sugar organic, fairtrade
- 75 g ground almonds organic, fairtrade
- 125 g unsalted butter organic
- 12 teaspoon mincemeat sweet
- 1 egg beaten, organic, freerange
- 5 tablespoon milk organic, to glaze
Instructions
- Mix all the ingredients, apart from the egg, together in the food processor until it resembles crumbs then slowly add the egg and wait until the pastry forms. Switch off and remove the pastry from the mixer. Alternatively, mix the dry ingredients together then rub in the butter with your hands until you get a crumb consistency before adding the egg and kneading it together to form the pastry. Place the pastry in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to cool.200 g plain flour, 40 g golden caster sugar, 75 g ground almonds, 125 g unsalted butter, 1 egg
- Pre-heat the oven to 200°C /400°F/gas mark 6. Grease a 12 hole baking try with oil or butter. Sprinkle a little flour on the work surface and roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick. Using 2 pastry cutters, cut out the top and bottoms of the pies using the larger cutter for the bottom and the next size one for the tops.
- Place the bottoms in the pie tray, add a spoonful of mincemeat, brush the edges with a little milk to help the lids stick and place the lids on top. Carefully press the edges together using your fingers and prick the tops with a fork to allow steam to escape. Glaze the tops with a little milk if you like.12 teaspoon mincemeat, 5 tablespoon milk
- Place in the oven on a middle shelf for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes before transfering to a cooling rack.
Notes
-
- Plain Flour or All Purpose Flour - shortcrust pastry is made with plain flour.
- Ground Almonds - these add a lovely nutty flavour to the pastry. If you are allergic to nuts, you can leave out the almonds and substitute with the same quantity of plain flour. This is important to keep the same dry to wet ratio in the recipe.
- Butter - I always use unsalted butter for baking.
- Golden Caster Sugar - I've used golden caster sugar. Golden caster sugar is unrefined and contains some molasses, while caster sugar is refined and has no molasses. Use whichever one you have or are used to.
- Mincemeat - Sweet mincemeat is a mixture of dried fruit, spices, sugar, and fat, traditionally used at Christmas. You can buy ones with different flavours added such as brandy, amaretto, or clementines.
Nutrition per serving
The Nutritional Values are computer generated estimates based on industry standards and are provided as a helpful guide only.
Brenda
Any recipe with ' quick ' in the title is a winner.'Super quick' is even better . Never tried ground almonds before. really nice