Mince pie pastry

Now to go with that lovely fruit mince i made earlier a sweet pastry. There is also a reason why i dont add almonds to my mince & thats because i add ground almonds to the pastry making it that little bit more sweet. If your after pure indulgence make chocolate pastry.

280g/10oz Sifted flour

125g/41/2oz Sifted icing sugar
50g/2oz ground almonds
Pinch salt
200g/7oz cold butter - i used vegan marge
2 eggs - I used flax seed as my egg replacer


Mix the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds & salt together.

Mix in the butter with your finger tips until the mixture resembles bread crumbs.

Stir in the egg or egg replacer so the mixture comes together in clumps (if you need to add a little water do so) Knead the dough briefly until smooth, wrap in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

xmas fruit mince

I like mince pies but during xmas i always feel to full to eat them the fillings just to heavy & meat tends to take up a large portion of our xmas menus and meals & its just to much for me to handle. So i like to make fruit mince yes you guessed it mince made from fruit its light & still just as tasty if not more so! My mince doesnt contain candied peel because i dont really like it but if you wanted to add some in then feel free to tinker & play around with it to find what suits you best.

8oz pears

grated rind of 1 lemon & 1 orange

3oz raisens

3oz currents

3oz sultanas

4oz apricots

3oz apple

4oz glace cherries

4oz dates, chopped

2oz cranberries

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1/2 nutmeg

1/2 ginger

4 fl oz sherry

3 fl oz brandy

3 fl oz water

Mix all the ingredients into a large bowl. Set aside to let the flavours mingle for 1-2 hours or over night. 

Transfer to a casserole dish with a lid & bake covered at 180 C/350 F/ Gas 4 for 1 hour

When complete store in an air tight jar ready to use.