Recipe: A Trio of Mince Pies

Variety is the spice of life and this is as true at Christmas time as it is during the rest of the year. Whilst I love traditional Mince Pies, I also like to ring the changes and vary my basic mince pies recipe to make other versions.

 

I am a huge fan of almonds and have always loved frangipane tarts and what could be better than combining frangipane with mincemeat to create Frangipane Mince Pies? There is something so wonderful about the combination of flavours which makes them impossible to resist. The flaked almonds add a pleasing crunch and the frangipane topping means that the individual pies do not dry out. Heavenly!

I always seem to have egg whites leftover after other baking projects so it seemed logical to use them to place a cloud-like puff of meringue on top of some mince pies. These pies are sweet but the contrast between the buttery pastry, the rich fruit filling and the light meringue is wonderful. Each recipe below makes 16 individual mince pies.

 

Mince Pies

Basic Pastry:

 

INGREDIENTS:

175g plain flour

50g icing sugar

100g cold butter, cubed

1 large egg yolk

2 tbsp cold water

 

METHOD:

1. Sieve the flour and icing sugar together into a large mixing bowl. Add the diced butter and using your fingertips rub into the flour mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Make a well in the centre and add the egg yolk and the water and mix together with a fork to bring everything together.
3. Turn out onto a clean, lightly floured work surface and knead briefly. Form into a flat disc, wrap in cling-film and refrigerate for at least half an hour.

 

Makes 350g pastry.

 

Traditional Mince Pies

Traditional Mince Pies:

 

INGREDIENTS:

350g basic pastry (see recipe above)

Approximately 450g Mincemeat

 

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Thinly roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work-surface and using a 7cm round cookie cutter, stamp out rounds of the pastry. Use to line 16 individual patty tins.
2. Place a generous teaspoon of mincemeat into each individual pastry shell.
3. Using a pastry brush dampen the edge of each little pie with a little water or beaten egg and place another round of pastry on top. Seal the pies by pressing the edges together with the tines of a fork. Cut a little slit in the top of each pie to allow steam to escape.
4. If you like you can stamp out star shapes and use these to top each mince pie instead.
5. Place in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes until light golden brown.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Serve at room temperature dusted with icing sugar.

 

Makes 16 Mince Pies.

 

Frangipane Mince Pies

Frangipane Mince Pies

 

INGREDIENTS:

175g basic pastry (see recipe above)

100g butter, softened

100g caster sugar

2 large eggs

100g ground almonds

1 tbsp of plain flour

a couple of drops of almond extract

25g flaked almonds

 

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Thinly roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work-surface and using a 7cm round cookie cutter, stamp out rounds of the pastry. Use to line 16 individual patty tins.
2. Place a generous teaspoon of mincemeat into each individual pastry shell.

3. 

   Frangipane Mince Pies

   To make the frangipane, place the butter and sugar into a mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer beat together until light a fluffy. Add the eggs and beat together until fully incorporated. Next beat in the ground almonds, flour and almond extract.
4. Place the mixture into a disposable piping bag fitted with 1cm plain nozzle. Pipe the mixture onto the top of each pie (don’t overfill as the mixture will spread out during baking). Scatter over a few flaked almonds.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes until light golden brown.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

 

Makes 16 Frangipane Mince Pies.

 

Meringue Mine Pies

Meringue Mince Pies

 

INGREDIENTS:

175g basic pastry (see recipe above)

2 large egg whites

125g caster sugar

 

METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4. Thinly roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work-surface and using a 7cm round cookie cutter, stamp out rounds of the pastry. Use to line 16 individual patty tins.
2. Place the egg whites into a large spotlessly clean mixing bowl and using a hand-held electric mixer beat until the mixture forms stiff peaks.
3. Add in the sugar gradually, mixing well after each addition to create a stiff and glossy meringue. Spoon the mixture into a disposable piping bag filled with a 1cm star nozzle and pipe a swirl of meringue on top of each mince pie.
4. Place in the preheated oven for approximately 15 minutes until the meringue is tinged a light golden brown.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Makes 16 Meringue Mince Pies.



Traditional Mince Pies

Recipe: Mincemeat Shortcake Bars

For me, Christmas is not Christmas without mince pies and from mid November onwards I jump at any excuse to make a batch or two. I love nothing more than sitting in front of a turf fire nibbling on mince pies and drinking hot tea. Whilst I love traditional mince pies, I’m always on the lookout for new recipes using mincemeat that evoke all the flavours of Christmas but are a little different.

I often make these shortcake bars and they always seem to go down a treat with unexpected visitors during the festive period. Because of the use of self-raising flour, the pastry has a softer texture when baked than that used in conventional mince pies but it makes a nice change and people really seem to like them.

 

INGREDIENTS:

Pastry:

240g self-raising flour

15g icing sugar

125g cold butter, cubed

1 large egg, lightly beaten

30ml cold water

1 jar (approximately 400g or so) mincemeat

2tbsp brandy

To finish:

2tbsp caster sugar

 

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to Fan Oven to 180C/Fan Oven 160C/Gas Mark 4.
2. Line a 30cm x 20cm traybake tin with non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

3. Place the flour and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl and add the cubed butter. Rub the butter into the flour using the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and water. Mix everything together using a fork until it comes together.

4. Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly and shape into a ball.

5. Divide the dough in half. Press one half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared tin flattening it out with your fingers or the back of a metal spoon to create a level surface.

6. Mix the mincemeat and brandy together in a small bowl and then spoon onto the pastry in the traybake tin, spreading it out evenly.

7. Roll the other half of the dough between two sheets of flour non-stick baking parchment paper into a rectangle the same size as the tin (i.e. 30cms x 20cms).

8. Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and lift the rolled out pastry on the other sheet of parchment, flip it over to cover the mincemeat filling. Tuck in the edges of the pastry making sure that the filling is covered.

9. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until light golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the caster sugar. Set aside to cool before cutting into 16 bars.

 

Makes 16 bars.

 

Apple Turnovers

Shhhh… I’ll let you in on a little secret… You can make these Apple Turnovers using bought puff pastry! Shocking, I know! The truth is; yes… I do make my own puff pastry from time-to-time, but more often than not, I buy an all-butter version which I find more than adequate for most of my baking needs. Making your own puff pastry is actually relatively simple to do but it you need to have some spare time so that the dough can relax and chill between folding.

If you do use pre-prepared puff pastry, this is a very easy recipe to conjure up and it takes relatively little effort to produce these pastries which taste delicious. I have kept everything very simple and have filled them with lightly cooked apple flavoured with cinnamon, but you can vary the fruits, depending on what takes your fancy or what you have to hand. The turnovers make a lovely sweet breakfast treat or mid-morning snack with a cup of coffee or tea, but can of course be enjoyed at any time of the day. They are easy to transport and would be wonderful for a picnic.

I like to eat the turnovers when they are still slightly warm from the oven but they are also delicious eaten at room temperature.

 

Whilst I have suggested using commercially made puff pastry here, you can by all means try making your own and in fact, I think that it is something that any keen baker should try at least once. I’ll be posting my recipe and the various stages involved in making puff pastry, in the next couple of weeks, but any good book about baking techniques should have a recipe and instructions in it.
 

Ingredients:

Apple filling:
6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped into small cubes (about 1cm)

25ml apple juice

Juice of 1 lemon

75g caster sugar

½tsp ground cinnamon

To assemble:

375g puff pastry (preferably all-butter)

A little beaten egg for glazing

To finish:

50g icing sugar

½tsp water
 

Method:

Apple filling:

1. Place all the ingredients for the apple filling in a medium sized saucepan and place over a high heat. Bring up to simmering point and then reduce the temperature so that the apples are gently simmering away. Do not cover the saucepan. Allow to simmer for approximately 10-12 minutes until the apples are tender, but are not disintegrating and turning into a purée. Remove from the heat and allow to cool completely.

2. Preheat oven to 200C/Fan Oven 180C/Gas Mark 6. Line a large baking tray with a sheet of non-stick baking parchment and set aside.

To assemble:

3. Using a rolling-pin, roll the puff pastry out on a lightly floured work-surface into a rectangle approximately 45cms x 30cms and about ½cm thick. Trim any rough edges and then divide into 6 squares (15cms x 15cms).

4. Brush the edges of each square with a little water, using a pastry brush. Place a large tablespoon of the apple mixture in the centre of each square and then bring one corner, diagonally over to meet the opposite corner, pressing the edges together to seal. Place sideways, flat on the tray and make a small hole in the top layer of pastry to allow steam to escape.

5. Brush each turnover with a little beaten egg to glaze. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes until the turnovers have puffed up and are a rich golden brown colour. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking tray.

To finish:

6. Mix the icing sugar and water together and drizzle over the cooled turnovers.

Makes 6.

 

Apple & Custard Puffs

Some of the dishes that I cook are created almost by accident, using ingredients from the back of the kitchen store cupboard or from leftovers. I love cooking like this, because there’s no specific recipe, just the germ of an idea which hopefully results in something tasty to eat. I have to admit that I am often surprised by how delicious some of these ad hoc ‘accidental’ creations can be. These pastries were absolutely delicious and could be easily adapted to include other fruits.

The following recipe is a perfect case in point. I had some leftover crème patisserie from another recipe that I was experimenting with. In the Western World, we are regularly given statistics about how much food we throw away and each year. I’m not going to get on my soap-box about this, except to say that I believe that there is something almost immoral about this considering how many millions of people in the world don’t have enough food to eat and face the horrors of real starvation every day. Consequently, I consider that there is an onus on us to respect the fact that most of us in Ireland have enough to eat and are fortunate enough to have a huge variety and choice of foods on offer. We can best do this by not immediately opening the rubbish bin every time we have some foods remaining or approaching their ‘use-by’ dates.

I had a few apples in the fruit bowl and decided to stew some to serve with custard, which would have been delicious in itself and a good way of trying to cajole the children into eating some fruit. I then remembered that I also had some puff pastry trimmings leftover from a tarte tatin that I had made the previous day, so I decided to use that up as well. Rather than bake my little apple puffs, I decided that I would deep-fry them…mainly because I wanted to see how the puff pastry would react when deep-fried.

I have to tell you these apple and custard puffs were a true revelation and reinforced many of my beliefs regarding leftovers. Previous generations were so adept at using everything they had to hand and created delicious meals to eat. In our consumer driven world with its throw-away mentality, we would do well to learn a few lessons from the past.

Ingredients:

Crème Patisserie:
2 large egg yolks
30g caster sugar

7g plain flour

7g cornflour

175ml milk

½tsp vanilla paste

Apple Compote:

1 cooking apple, peeled, cored and cut into 2cm chunks

2 eating apples, peeled, cored and cut into 2cm chunks

1tblsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

1tblsp caster sugar

To finish:

350g puff pastry

1 egg, lightly beaten

Caster sugar and ground cinnamon for sprinkling on finished pastries

Vegetable oil for frying
 

Method:

Crème Patisserie:
1. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a medium sized bowl and whisk until they are well mixed together. Add the flour and cornflour and mix again to fully incorporate. Set aside.
2. Separately, heat the milk and vanilla paste together in a medium saucepan over a moderate heat until just simmering. Remove the pan from the heat and slowly pour the milk on to the egg mixture. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan and place over a low to moderate heat. Stir continuously until the mixture starts to thicken and bubble. Allow to cook for one further minute and then remove from the heat. Transfer the contents into a clean bowl. Cover the surface of the custard directly with cling film and set aside to cool.

Apple Compote:

3. Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan over a moderate heat and bring to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally. Once the apples have broken down a little (after about 5 minutes), remove from the heat and transfer the apple compote into a clean bowl and set aside to cool.

To finish:

4. Roll out the puff pastry until it is about 3mm thick. Using a 12-15cm round cutter, stamp out rounds from the pastry. Put a teaspoon of crème patisserie and a teaspoon of apple compote side-by-side in the centre of each round. Brush around the edge of each circle with a little beaten egg and then fold one half of the pastry over to meet the other side, pressing down and crimping the edges to encase the filling.

5. Meanwhile heat some vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer until it reaches 170C. Fry the filled pastries in batches of 3 or 4 for about 6 minutes, turning them around with a metal slotted spoon so that they colour evenly. The pastries are ready when they have puffed up and are a rich golden brown colour.

6. Carefully remove from the heat and gently roll in caster sugar in to which you have added a little ground cinnamon.
 

Makes 8-10.