December 10, 2014, by Jennifer Scott
Student Friendly Mince Pie Recipe
I apologise for my disappearing act last week! Life has been a little bit crazy these last few weeks. Fortunately, Christmas is almost here and it brings with it festive food! If you get a chance in this hectic final week of term, head to the kitchen and bake some of these mince pies for your housemates. Or wait until they’ve all gone home and keep them all to yourself. Whichever you choose, there’s no judgement here!
I’m using shop bought mincemeat as I accidentally bought far too much when it was on offer and it’s easier (and cheaper) than making your own. It also makes these mince pies quick to make and they only require 5 ingredients. If you’re feeling crazy than you can find plenty of recipes for homemade filling out there in the world of the internet, just don’t forget to come back here as this pastry is flaky and yummy!
This recipe originated from this Nigella recipe but I changed it up to make it more student friendly. Because, how many students own a food processor?
Mince Pie Recipe (Makes 6)
Ingredients:
- 120 grams plain flour
- 60 grams butter
- Juice of 1 small orange (or 3 tablespoons orange juice, if you’re feeling a tad lazy)
- A pinch of salt
- 6 teaspoons mincemeat
Recipe
- Cut your butter into cubes and place in a large bowl with the flour. Use a spoon to mix a little so that all the cubes are fully covered in flour – it doesn’t need to be properly mixed yet. Pop it in the freezer for around 10 minutes. Sounds weird, I know, but Nigella says it makes the pastry flakier and she knows her stuff!
- Remove from the freezer, add your orange juice and salt and start to mix together. It’s best to use your hands here as you want to make sure the butter and flour are well incorporated and the cold butter can be tough to work with. Once it starts to come together and form into more of a ball, shape it into a disk and pop in the fridge for 10 minutes.
- Heat your oven to 180C, grease a muffin tin and get ready to roll! On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough until it’s fairly thin (but not so thin it’s about to break!) I’d say around 3mm, but it’s best to trust your judgement rather than actually using a ruler…
- Take two different sized cookie cutters (or go fully student and use two different sized glasses or mugs) and cut 6 circles of each size to create the top and bottom to your mince pies. Place the larger pieces of pastry in your muffin tins, add around 1 teaspoon of mincemeat into each case and finally add your tops, pushing them down around the edges so that there aren’t any gaps between the tops and bottoms.
- Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until they’re just starting to brown a little. Enjoy warm and feel all Christmassy!
I’d love to hear about any festive baking you get up to in the comments! If you make these, let me know how you find them.
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