Janey's Mince Pies

These break all the rules of pastry making - but are absolutely wonderful - I promise. I cook them in a big batch because they are so popular - I make them for other people.

To make c. 70 - 80 mince pies (they won't last long - believe me), you will need:

A large jar (approx 800 gm) of the best quality mincemeat you can find. This is worth paying for - don't waste your money on the cheap and nasty stuff. This year I used Waitrose top of the range mincemeat - and it's lovely!

Small tub glace cherries.
Small pack flaked almonds.
Bottle brandy or cherry brandy or apricot brandy (a minature is about the right size - but if you prefer to buy a bigger bottle, you can always drink the rest!).

Pastry quantities are half fat to flour, half sugar to fat.
Fat = half margarine (block marg. e.g. Stork) + half vegetable shortening (e.g. Trex)

2lb SELF RAISING flour
1 lb fat (8oz Stork, 8oz Trex)
8 oz castor sugar

Sorry - I don't know what the pastry quantities are in metric - I'm an Imperial gal myself.

Water to mix

A little milk to glaze

I make these up in two batches of 1lb flour. Trying to make pastry with a quantity larger than this is pretty unmanageable.

Put the flour in a bowl (I don't bother with all that sieving nonsense that these celebrity cooks will have you do - these mince pies work perfectly well without mucking about doing that).

Cut up the fat into small pieces and rub into the flour. Once it resembles breadcrumbs, stir in the castor sugar. Then slowly add water and mix with a knife and then your hands until the mixture is a light dough. It should come clean away from the edges of the bowl but shouldn't be sticky (too wet) or crumbly (too dry).

Put the dough in a polythene bag (I split it into two and use two large sandwich bags) and chill in the fridge for about half an hour.

Put the oven on to heat up. Gas mark around 5-6, circotherm 170-180. (sorry - I don't know exactly what it is on a standard electric oven - around 400F, I think).

Meanwhile, put half of the jar of mincemeat into a bowl. Chop up glace cherries into quarters (as many as you think you'd like - I use around half a medium tub) and add to the mincemeat. Take a couple of handfuls of the flaked almonds and just crush in the palm of your hand until in fairly small-ish pieces. Stir these into the mincemeat. Then add around half a bottle (a minature!) of brandy. Mix it all together.

When the pastry has chilled (after about half an hour), roll it out on a floured work surface. You should roll out as thinly as you can - because the flour is self-raising, the pastry expands when it cooks anyway.

I work the pastry in two batches - otherwise it's a bit too big to be easily manageable.

Cut out rounds with pastry cutters (around 3" / 7 cms) and put in lightly greased patty / pie tins. This quantity should make around 36 (3 trays) of mince pies.

Put around 1 tspn of mincemeat in each pastry case, then cut out a round of pastry using a cutter the next size down (approx. 2.5" / 6cms) to make the lids. Brush the lids around the edge with a little water - which will seal the lid to the pie base - and press onto each pie.

Slit the top of each pie with a sharp knife - brush with a little milk to glaze and bake in the oven (circotherm around 170-180, Gas 5-6) for about 15 minutes.

When cooked, the lids will be slightly golden. Leave in the tins for about 1 minute when they come out of the oven (otherwise they will break up when you try to take them out) - then take out of the patty / pie tins and cool on a wire cooling rack.

Tip: To remove from patty / pie tins - ease a non-stick spatula under the base to loosen the mince pie slightly, and then just push it out. It should come clean out. I only get the odd one or two that stick or break on exit - and so - just eat those - they're the QA test samples.

Next - make the second batch with the next half of mincemeat and the next 1lb of flour in the same way.

Then, when you've finished - make a nice cup of tea, sit down and enjoy a warm, just out of the oven, mince pie (or three).

Happy Christmas!