Mince pies

Baked on 29th November 2020

These are traditional Christmas fayre in the UK and in the past have become a staple part of my diet for most of December. By now the shops are full of them, but this year I decided to bake my own.

For the filling, I used a vegan mincemeat recipe I found online. I had to substitue some of the dried fruit for ones in my local supermarket, and instead of port, I soaked the fruit in rum because we had a large bottle in the cellar to use up.

Vegan mincemeat recipe

The pastry is a normal sweet (non-vegan) pastry.

To bring the dough together, I used an unusual technique from James Morton's "How Baking Works" book. Instead of rubbing the flour and butter between your fingers, he suggests creaming the butter and sugar then adding the egg as if you were making a cake batter (but without aerating), then folding in the flour. I'm no expert with pastry, but it works, and avoids developing the gluten right from the beginning.

Photo

If I make mince pies again next year, I will swap the rum for brandy or port. The rum flavour is a bit strong!

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