MINCE PIES
INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE PASTRY:
- 140g Pernerka Fine White Spelt flour
- 140g Pernerka Fine Wholemeal Spelt flour
- A pinch of salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 3 tbsp caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- Orange zest to taste (optional)
- 195g cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 4 tbsp cold water (ideally chilled from the fridge)
- 1 small beaten egg for glazing
FOR THE FILLING:
- 1 large jar of your favourite mince meat (or you can make your own at home)
- Orange zest to taste (optional)
TO FINISH OFF WITH:
- Icing sugar for dusting
TIPS AND TRICKS:
Make sure that you don’t over-knead the pastry as you want it to be nice and short, i.e. flaky and crumbly. If you were to knead the pastry for too long, the gluten would start to develop and your pastry would be chewy.
INSTRUCTIONS:
1) Make the pastry. Sift the flour into a food processor bowl, add the sugar, cinnamon, orange zest and the cold butter. Pulse until you get a crumb like mixture. This usually doesn’t take long. Add a tablespoon of cold water at a time, pulsing between each addition. The mixture should start falling on itself and when it does, tip it onto a clean surface and bring it together into a smooth pastry. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for an hour as a minimum.
2) Preheat the oven to 190C / 170C fan.
3) Take the pastry out of the fridge, unwrap it and roll it on a clean flat surface to about 3mm thick.
4) First, cut out 12 round bases, approx. 10cm in diameter, and place them into a 12 cupcake/muffin tray. Put about 1 tbsp of mince meat into each. Brush the edge of each of the bases with some beaten egg.
5) Gather the remaining pastry, bring it together, roll it out again to the same thickness and cut out round lids, 7cm in diameter. Press the lids on top of the bases to seal the pies. Brush with the beaten egg, sprinkle with some caster sugar and make a small cross slit in the pies’ lids.
6) Bake in the preheated oven for 18 – 20 minutes or until golden brown. Leave the mince pies to cool before removing them from the tray. Dust with some icing sugar before serving. Enjoy!
This recipe has been prepared by flavouЯRythm