Making mini versions is my way of not ‘over stuffing’ people at Christmas
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I adore British cooking programs, especially around Christmas. Nigella, Delia, Rachel, James, Rick, from Hairy Bikers to Fat Ladies and from River Cottage via Simple Suppers to the Great British Bake Off, I like to watch them all. So, plenty of inspiration from our British neighbors, who usually seem to understand how to fabricate an attractive cooking and/or baking show.
Christmas is the time for the classics. The English return to their beloved turkey (or even more traditional goose) with stuffing, Christmas pudding (never made it by the way), gingerbread and the little bites featuring in this recipe. A classic English Christmas can not do without!
Many people buy ready made mince meat to fill their pies. Practical, but not a lot of fun I think. Most store bought stuff looks a little brownish and the cranberries in this homemade stuffing just makes them so much more festive.
The mince pies are now a firm favorite and Christmas baking is not the same without them. People always come back for more with this recipe. Reason enough to keep on baking…
Ingredients for the dough
Makes about 20-24 pies
225 g pastry flour
100 g butter in cubes
25 g sugar
pinch of salt
grated zest and juice of 1 orange (55-65 ml of juice)
Making the Dough
In a large bowl, sift the flour with a pinch of salt. Add the butter cubes. Rub the butter into the flour until you have something that resembles breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and grated zest and blend together. Add the juice and stir with a knife until the dough comes together. Using your hands, quickly knead into a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and press into a flat disc so it will be easier to roll out later. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
Ingredients for Cranberry Mincemeat
Enough for 3 to 4 recipes
330 g cranberries (fresh or frozen)
75 g brown sugar
75 ml red port
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp crushed cloves
120 g raisins
the grated zest and juice of an orange
25 g vanilla sugar
25 ml almond liqueur
Making the Cranberry Mincemeat
I recommend you make your mincemeat one day in advance, or even better, one week. This allows the ingredients to fuse together and it will be all lovely and ready by the time you are going to make the mince pies.
Poor port with brown sugar in a saucepan and warm over low heat until the sugar dissolves. Add the cranberries. Stir and add the spices, along with the zest and juice of an orange and the raisins. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Remove from the heat, let cool slightly, then add the vanilla sugar and the almond liqueur. Spoon into a sterile jar, let cool and store in the refrigerator.
Making the mince pies
Preheat oven to 210ºC / 410ºF conventional setting.
Get your mini muffin pan, brushed with some melted butter or sprayed with some oil, ready. Roll out the dough to about 2 mm / 0.2 inches thickness and cut out round shapes. I use a (fluted) cutter that is 6 cm / 2.4 inches in diameter. Fit each cup of the mini muffin pan with the round shapes. Gently press the dough in, making sure the dough also touches the bottom for an even bake.
Now fill each cup with a teaspoon of mincemeat.
Roll the dough a little thinner to make lids for the top of the pies. You can make tight fitting lids or star shapes. The lid shape is approx. 4 cm / 1.6 inches. The star cutter I use is 5 cm / 2 inches measured from point to point.
You can also use chopped almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts to sprinkle over the cranberry mixture.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Let cool in the muffin pan for 5-10 minutes before you remove them and allow to cool further on a rack.
Dust with icing sugar before serving.
Merry Christmas!
Kedi says
Hi! Thank you for this lovely recipe! Can I use frozen cranberries?
Weekend Bakers says
Hello Kedi,
Yes that is no problem at all. You will make the mince meat in advance and cook the cranberries, so it does not really make a difference for this recipe.
Hope you will enjoy it!
Anja says
Hallo Marieke,
Net de mini mince pies gemaakt.
Ze zijn super lekker.
Wat een heerlijk deeg is het met de sinaasappel erin .
ik heb alleen de vulling iets aangepast met gekonfijte kumquats en grote rozijnen
ipv de cranberrys.
groeten
Anja
Traci says
The “Mini Mince Pies” look wonderful! I love the various pictures and they came out lovely! I want to try this recipe during the holidays; I would have to convert the ingredients to cups since that’s my measuring utensils in America and figure out the temperature for my oven as well.. 🙂
Weekend Bakers says
Thank you Traci,
You can use our ‘baking conversion sheet’ to help you: www.weekendbakery.com/cooki…nversions/
If you have any questions about it, please ask.
Happy Baking,
Marieke
Al says
Gorgeous! This recipe makes my heart flutter with nostalgia. Here is a little gift to you. An NPR radio story on Mincemeat pie: www.npr.org/2010/…day-dishes
Old-Fashioned Mincemeat Pies
American cookery before the Civil War was, to a large extent, about food preservation, as there was little refrigeration. Most foods were local; railroads had not yet been built out from coast to coast. Mince pie is part of that tradition. Beef was a large part of the American diet, and there was always a great deal of leftover cooked beef. Mince pie was an obvious and easy way to use leftovers creatively. A real mince pie was more than just dried fruit and spices; it was based on leftover meat that was minced and combined with spices, rum, dried fruit and sugar. The process helped preserve the meat, which was an added benefit. Mince pie was so much part of the culinary landscape in the early days of the republic that it even made its way into song:
Can she make mince pies, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?
Can she make mince pies, Billy Boy?
Yes she can make mince pies
Quick’s a cat can wink its eyes;
But she’s a young thing and cannot leave her mother.
Ingredients
* Filling: 1 pound venison or lean beef, boiled and chopped
* 4 ounces suet
* 1 pound tart apples, peeled, cored, and chopped fine
* 3/4 cup beef broth (or reserved cooking liquid from meat)
* 1 1/4 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup cider
* 1/4 cup molasses
* 2 tablespoons cider vinegar
* 1 cup golden raisins
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground allspice
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
* Juice from one lemon
* Juice from one orange
* 1/4 cup brandy
* Pie: Pastry dough for 9-inch double-crust pie
* 1 large egg white, lightly beaten
One dozen mini-pies
A toast to you this holiday,
Al