Just in time for Christmas, these little pies will make your day! With a buttery, crumbly shortcrust pastry and a boozy fruit mince with candied peel and cranberries, they are ridiculously good. They are quicker to make than you’d think and would be so great for homemade gifts or to take along to parties. Let’s make pies!

I had mince pies on this blog earlier but wanted to reshoot them. When I took a look at the recipe, the mince was a bit more complicated than I’d like now, and the pies were topped with little cutouts of the pie dough. They looked cute but it meant the top of the filling got a little bit crispy in the oven and so this time, I turned the remaining dough into makeshift ‘lids’ which protect the filling. And give you more flaky crust in every bite!

Mince pies are often made with traditional pastry dough that involves rolling it out and cutting out circles to fit into the muffin pan for each pie. But this BBC Good Food recipe has a genius move: a shortcrust pastry that is just pressed into each mould and the warmth of your fingers helps shape it. Since there’s no liquid, this kind of pastry is a little crumblier than traditional pie crust but it’s delicious and nothing to worry about.

The fruit mince is actually quite flexible, you can add more or less of the ingredients, depending on what you like more, as long as the basic quantity of mince doesn’t fluctuate too much. I had a little more than I needed so I made two extra pies but that meant I didn’t have enough dough to make the lids for those last two pies. Not a big issue, but the recipe below will help you make 12 to 14 of them, depending on how heavy handed you are with the crust and the mince. I used a similar mince here and here!

I hope you’ll make a batch of these today! They keep for a few days and can be frozen so great for pre-Christmas prep!

Please read the recipe note before beginning.

Fruit Mince Pies

Buttery shortcrust pastry filled with boozy, spiced dried fruit and candied peel!

Prep Time: 1

Cook Time: 35

Total Time: 1 35

Makes: 12 to 14 pies

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Ingredients

For the fruit mince

100 gms candied orange peel
100 gms candied lemon peel
100 gms glace cherries
100 gms dried cranberries
100 gms raisins
1/3 cup walnuts
1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
1/3 cup dark rum or whiskey (80 ml)

For the shortcrust pastry

2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (330 gms)
1/2 tsp salt
225 gms cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup caster sugar (90 gms)
1 tbsp cream + 1 tsp water, to finish

Instructions

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a sharp blade, place the peel, cherries, cranberries and raisins. Blitz till you have small pieces of each ingredient and the mixture starts to ball up. Don't let it become a paste, a little chunky is better.
Tip this mixture into a sturdy saucepan or pot and add the cinnamon and whiskey. Stir constantly on low heat till the liquid evaporates and the mince starts to look a little jammy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Set aside to cool completely at room temperature. I recommend transferring the mince to an airtight tin and chilling it overnight, for a deeper flavour. Also remember that a warm mince will melt your pastry!
To make the pastry, combine the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, then add the cold cubed butter. Use your fingertips to rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs and there is no dry flour. Stir in the sugar and use your hands to bring the dough together into a rough mass. It will take a couple of minutes since there's no liquid here so the dough will be a little dry and crumbly but the warmth of your hands will help.
If the butter in the dough has softened or the dough feels warm, wrap it up in clingfilm and chill for 15 minutes (see notes for longer chill times).
Lightly grease 12 muffin moulds. Bring the mince out of the fridge and let it sit at room temperature.
Now set aside about 1/4th of the dough to make the 'lids' later on. Break off bits of the remaining dough, slightly larger than walnuts. Press each bit into the muffin moulds, using your fingertips to spread it over the base and up the sides, using a little more dough if needed. Repeat till all the moulds are done.
Now add two tablespoons of the mince into each muffin mould, spreading it out evenly and packing it down well. Repeat with the other moulds. If you have leftover dough, add it to the reserved portion from step 7.
Finally, break off small bits of the reserved dough (about a tablespoon sized portion) and flatten between your palms to create the lids. Place them over the mince and spread and ease them to the edges. It's ok if they're a bit rustic, they're more to protect the mince from burning than anything else.
Combine the cream and water and brush over the top of the pies. Place in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180 C.
Bake the pies for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown on top and slightly puffed. If needed, bake an additional 5 minutes. The sides of the pies won't brown as much since they're in muffin tins.
Let the pies cool in the moulds for 15 minutes, then run a sharp knife around the sides to gently lift them out. Place on a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight tin at room temperature for 2 to 3 days, and in the fridge for a week, or in the freezer for a month. Happy baking!

Notes

*Feel free to switch up the quantities of the different mince ingredients, as long as you have a total of about 500 gms of mince.

*While you can make the pastry the same day as the mince and chill it overnight as well, I did find the pastry gets so firm that it can be difficult to mould into the muffin tins. However, if you do want to go this way, just leave the pastry out at room temperature for 20 minutes before proceeding.

*Ingredients for the mince are usually available at most dry fruit stores and also online.

*Prep time does not include chilling time for the mince and dough

*Pastry adapted from this BBC Good Food recipe