Mince Pies

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12-hole bun tin or shallow tart tin
• •8cm and 6cm round pastry cutters (or a star cutter for the lids)
• •Rolling pin
• •Pastry brush
• •Wire cooling rack

Instructions

1. 1

   Make the pastry

   Tip the flour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl. Add the cold butter and rub it through the flour with cold fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs with a few flatter flecks of butter still visible. Don't overdo it. Those bits of butter are what make the pastry shatter properly under the teeth. Stir in the egg yolk and just enough cold water to bring the dough together. It should hold when you press it, not feel sticky. Flatten it into a disc, wrap, and rest in the fridge for at least thirty minutes.

   Cold hands, cold butter, cold water. Pastry rewards a cold kitchen and a quick touch. If your hands run warm, run them under the cold tap first.
2. 2

   Wake up the mincemeat

   While the pastry rests, tip the mincemeat into a bowl. Stir in the orange zest and the splash of brandy if you're using it. Even a good jar benefits from this. The zest brightens the dried fruit and the brandy loosens it just enough to spoon. Taste it. If it tastes flat, more brandy. If it tastes sleepy, more zest.

3. 3

   Roll and cut

   Set the oven to 200C/180C fan. Lightly butter a 12-hole bun tin. Roll the pastry out on a floured surface to about 3mm thick, no thinner. Cut twelve circles slightly larger than the holes in the tin, about 8cm across, and press one into each hole. Re-roll the scraps and cut twelve smaller lids, around 6cm, or stars if you're feeling festive. Stars are easier than they sound and they let the steam escape without you having to remember to prick anything.

4. 4

   Fill the cases

   Spoon a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat into each case. Be generous but not greedy. Overfilled mince pies leak and weld themselves to the tin, and there are few sadder things in a December kitchen. Brush the rim of each case with a little beaten egg, then press the lids on top. If you're using full circles, give them a small slit in the centre with the tip of a knife. Stars don't need it.

5. 5

   Glaze and bake

   Brush the tops with the rest of the beaten egg and scatter with a little caster sugar. Slide the tin into the oven and bake for eighteen to twenty minutes, until the pastry is a deep, even gold and the kitchen smells of Christmas: orange peel, butter, brandy, warm spice. That smell is the timer. Trust your nose. It knows before you do.

   If a little mincemeat bubbles out and crisps on the edge of the pastry, leave it. That sticky, caramelised bit is the cook's reward.
6. 6

   Cool, dust, and wish

   Let the pies sit in the tin for five minutes before lifting them out with a palette knife. They need that time to settle, otherwise the bottoms can tear. Cool on a wire rack and dust with icing sugar. Eat the first one warm, before anyone else gets to the kitchen. Make a wish on it. That's the rule. I didn't make it up but I follow it every year.

Chef Tips

• •If you can, make your mincemeat in October and let it sit in jars for a couple of months. The flavours marry and deepen and turn into something none of the individual ingredients could promise. If you can't, buy a good jar and lift it with orange zest and brandy. That small intervention is the difference between fine and properly good.
• •Pastry hates being rushed and loves being cold. Rest it in the fridge before rolling, and again after cutting if your kitchen is warm. A cold pie going into a hot oven is what gives you that crisp, snappy shortcrust. A warm pie going into a hot oven gives you something heavier, sadder, less worth the trouble.
• •Mince pies keep beautifully in a tin for four or five days, and they reheat brilliantly. Three minutes in a warm oven brings them back almost exactly. They do not, however, microwave well. The pastry goes soft and you'll be disappointed. A warm oven is the only way.

Advance Preparation

• •The pastry can be made up to two days ahead and kept wrapped in the fridge. Let it sit at room temperature for ten minutes before rolling, otherwise it cracks.
• •Mincemeat keeps for months in sterilised jars, so making a batch in October pays dividends through December. A good jar from the supermarket, dressed up with orange zest and brandy, will get you most of the way there.
• •Baked mince pies keep in an airtight tin for up to five days. Refresh them in a 160C oven for three or four minutes before serving. They also freeze well, unbaked, for up to a month: freeze on a tray, then bag, and bake from frozen with an extra five minutes in the oven.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 75g)