Christmas Sweet Mince Pies is a traditional British Christmas dessert which has been rolling in from many centuries through traditions.
And, guess what, when it comes to Christmas, I love traditions.
I love making traditional Easy Christmas fruit cake recipe {Kid-Friendly} along with Gingerbread Cinnamon Rolls, Candy Cane Fudge, and of course you can't imagine Christmas without Classic Eggnog
Easy Traditional mince pie recipe
Traditional Mince Pie recipe is made with beef suet. Along with beef suet, there goes dry fruits, sugar, distilled liquid, and they are baked in a pastry crust.
But, this isn't a traditional mince pie. You can call this a modern mince pie which is also called a Sweet christmas mince pie.
In this recipe, we skip the distilled liquid and use Orange juice to make it kid friendly.
what are the ingredients in mince pies?
- For the filling
- cranberries
- raisins
- molasses
- apricots
- candied fruit or candied peel of your choice I used finely chopped candied pineapple and candied kiwi
- juice of 1 orange
- zest of ½ orange
- zest of 1 lemon
- melted butter
- green apple peeled, and finely chopped
- granulated sugar can be replaced with dark brown sugar (100g)
- ground cinnamon
- ground nutmeg
- For the dough
- all purpose flour
- granulated sugar
- salt
- unsalted butter (cubed, and kept cold)
- cold water
- For the topping
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon powdered/confectioners sugar
How to Make mary berry mince pie recipe?
Well I ain't as good as Mary Berry. And her expertise is simply unmatched. But, here is something which I've learnt from her and used my experience to try out this recipe.
So, here's how it goes:
- Make the filling: In a bowl combine the dry fruits, candied peels, molasses, raisins, orange zest and lemon zest in orange juice. Soak this in Orange Juice for minimum 2 hours or overnight.
- Caramelize Apples: In a saucepan melt butter. Add grated apples to the pan. Stir until light brown. Add in warm spices along with granulated sugar.
- Make the pastry dough: You can use my recipe for homemade pastry dough to make this. I can guarantee it will give you the most flakiest and a buttery dough.
- Roll out the dough: Roll out the dough on a floured surface. Use a cookie cutter to cut out rounds. I used a mini tart shell as it looks really cute that way. Roll out remaining dough to make the holiday shaped dough topping.
- Add the filling: Spoon the filling and top with holiday dough cut out.
- Brush egg wash: Brush beaten egg over the mini mince pies. Sprinkle some confectioners sugar over the top.
- Bake: bake the mince pies in the oven at 370°F or 190°C for 20-25 minutes depending on your oven.
- Serve: Serve them with more confectioner's sugar on top.
Why is it called mincemeat?
The idea of "mince" comes from 15th century when they use to put minced meat aka "finely chopped" meat in the filling. In fact, the distilled spirit and sugar was actually added to preserve the meat.
But around 20th century, people started replacing meat with dry fruits, nuts, and sugar.
Why do we leave mince pies at Christmas?
Traditions from Middle ages say that if you eat mince pies for 12 days from Christmas day to Twelfth night you get blessings which brings you true happiness for the next 12 months.
What is Christmas mince meat made of?
Traditional Mincemeat is made of beef or mutton suet, dry fruits, distilled spirits, warm spices, sugar, and mixed nuts. But these days, many people skip beef suet and use the filling in a pastry or pie filling.
How to Store Christmas Mince Pies
Cool the mince pies. Store it in an airtight container. Avoid refrigerating the pies as it may change the texture. You can keep it at room temperature for at least 1 week.
Can I freeze them?
Yes you can freeze these mince pies. Make sure you cover them individually in plastic wraps. Place them in airtight container. Store them in the freezer. They'll stay fine in the freezer for 2-3 months.
More Christmas Recipes
- Christmas Wreath Fruit Platter
- Antipasto Skewer - Christmas Antipasto Wreath Food
- Crockpot Christmas Candy (An Easy To Make Recipe)
- Easy Christmas Tree Cookies
- Christmas Crumb Cake
Christmas Mince Pies
INGREDIENTS
For the filling
- 1 cup cranberries 142 grams (5 ounces)
- 1 cup raisins 142 grams (5 ounces)
- ¼ cup molasses 60ml
- ½ cup apricots finely chopped
- 2 ounces candied fruit or candied peel of your choice I used finely chopped candied pineapple and candied kiwi
- juice of 1 orange
- zest of ½ orange
- zest of 1 lemon
- 4 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup green apple peeled, and finely chopped
- ½ cup granulated sugar can be replaced with dark brown sugar (100g)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
For the dough
- 1½ cup all purpose flour 225 grams
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 85 grams (cubed, and kept cold)
- ½ cup cold water
For the topping
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon powdered/confectioners sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
For the filling
- Add cranberries, raisins, molasses, apricots, finely chopped candied fruit or candied peel of your choice, orange juice, orange zest, and lemon zest in a bowl. Allow it to soak overnight or for at least 2 hours.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add grated apples and allow it to turn light golden brown. Now add granulated sugar, along with ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg.
- Once the apples have caramelized and thickened (eyeball it to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and get burnt) turn off the heat.
Making Pastry dough
- In a bowl combine all purpose flour, sugar, salt, butter, and cold water. Use a pastry blender or your fingertips to cut the dough. It should resemble a breadcrumb like consistency.
- Drizzle in water and lightly mix together until it resembles a dough like consistency. You might not need all the water.
- Remove the dough and form into a ball. Wrap in a plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 10-15 minutes.
- While the dough chills make the rest of the filling. Combine orange juice soaked dry fruit mixture to the saucepan with caramelized apples. Mix it lightly.
- Preheat oven to 375°F/190°C
- On a floured surface, roll out the pastry dough about 3mm (1/8 inch) thick.
- I used a mini tart shell, lightly greased with butter. Place them over the rolled dough and cut out small rounds.
- Place those rounds in the mini tart shells. Use a fork to prick the bottom of the shell.
- If you don't want to use a tart shell for any reason, you can use a 4-inch (10 cm) round cutter to cut out rounds and place into the cavity of the muffin pans.
- Scoop the filling into the each of the cups.
- Roll out the remaining dough and use a star shaped cookie cutter to cut out stars. You can also use a snowflake shaped cookie cutter to cut out snowflake shaped dough. Or you can cut out thin strips (like we do for apple pie) and make a lattice.
- Place them over the filling. Brush the shapes with beaten eggs. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners sugar.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes (depending on your oven) until the pastry is golden brown.
- Serve them with more confectioner's sugar on top.
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