My husband takes the tradition of eating 12 mince pies between Christmas and New Year very seriously. This apparently ensures a full twelve months of happiness in the year ahead. In fact my husband likes to have a few more under his belt (so to speak) just to be sure – and then, of course, he needs to practise getting up to full mince pie eating capacity so he likes to have a few in the run up to Christmas Basically he loves mincepies!
With all this demand, I always like to have a stash of mince pies in the freezer so I don’t have to be rolling out pastry all the time. I freeze them raw in the trays and – once they are frozen – pop them out and store them in freezer bags. That way when I want them I just return them to the patty tray and cook them from frozen for 20 mins at 175c. Really easy for when guests drop in, or you just feel a bit peckish but don’t want to put in much last minute effort, or even (heaven forbid) when you realise Oct-Dec next year are not going to be good months unless you eat three more mincepies on New Years Eve.
My favourite pastry for the mince pies is a very buttery shortcrust flavoured with orange zest and bound together with the juice It’s absolutely amazing if I say so myself – and the smell when they come out the oven …… yum. It’s made in the food processor so it’s ridiculously easy to do. Just remember because the pastry is so crumbly and butter rich to leave the cooked mince pies in the tins for 5 mins after cooking before taking them out and putting on a rack to cool or they will fall apart Continue reading
