Ingredients
- Shortcrust pastry:
- 125 g butter
- 100 g sugar
- 1 egg
- 250 g flour
- 5 g baking powder
- 1 pie dish (for 12 mini pies)
- Mincemeat:
- 600 g cooking apples
- 110 g candied orange peel
- 450 g currants - 450 g raisins - 230 g sultanas
- 450 g grated suet (kidney fat or vegetarian fat)
- 450 g sugar
- zest and juice of 2 lemons
- 1 tsp nutmeg, grated
- 1â„4 tsp clove powder
- 1â„4 tsp cinnamon powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 50 ml brandy
Instructions
Shortcrust pastry bases and stars:
- Cream the butter with the sugar, then add the egg, flour and baking powder. Mix everything together until you have a homogeneous dough.
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 5 mm and use a round metal ring to cut out circles of dough that are slightly larger than the baking tins. Then cut out the "lids" with a star-shaped cookie cutter (you can also choose any other shape for the pastry cover).
Mincemeat (pie filling):
Peel and core the apples and cut into small pieces. Coarsely chop the apple pieces with the dried fruit and candied orange peel briefly in a kitchen blender. Add all the other ingredients, mix well and fill into sterilised jars. Seal airtight. Keep for several weeks if unopened! The pie filling should ideally be made several weeks in advance, as the longer the filling steeps, the more aromatic it becomes.
Finishing:
Place the pastry circles in the greased and floured baking tin and fill with mincemeat. Top each pie with a pastry star. Bake the filled pies at 180°C for about 15-20 minutes until lightly coloured. Leave to cool in the tin. Sprinkle with icing sugar and enjoy lukewarm.
