Frome Festive Countdown – making mince pies
Is it really Christmas if mince pies aren’t involved? You could bake an extra batch for your neighbours too. Ready, steady, bake!
Mince pies
You’ll need:
- Jar mincemeat. You can add a tablespoon of brandy to the opened jar for extra festive flavour.
- 200g Plain Flour (plus extra to dust the work surface.)
- 25g Caster Sugar (plus extra to sprinkle on pies before cooking.)
- 125g Cold Butter or Margarine
- 2 beaten egg or approx. 50ml milk to mix ingredients to form a dough keeping some of liquid to glaze the pies before cooking.
Method
- Before making, heat the oven to 180c and have a rolling pin and a greased mince pie tray ready.
- Mix flour and fat together using the rubbing in method to form a breadcrumb like mix.
- Stir in sugar and gradually add enough liquid using your hands to form the pastry dough (remember to reserve some of the egg mix or milk for glazing).
- Lightly dust the cleaned work surface with flour before thinly rolling out your dough to approx. 3 ml thick.
- You can then use cookie cutters to form the 12 bases and tops for the pies.
- Place the pastry bases into the pie tin and fill with mincemeat and cover with the tops.
- Brush them with egg or milk and lightly sprinkle with sugar and place in the oven for approx. 20mins. (they are done when pastry starts to look golden).
- Set aside to cool and then get eating!
Let’s see your mince pie creations and we will give you our best virtual Paul Hollywood hand-shake. Make sure you check the Frome Festive Countdown for more Christmassy ideas and activities.
