All I Want For Christmas Is Some Delicious Mince Pies
Christmas means many things to many people, be it the religious connotations, the gifts for the children, or the magic of Santa Claus and everything that entails. However, for the bakers, Christmas is a time to demonstrate our skills and share our love of baking with friends and family.
One of the easiest and most popular ways to do this is to bake homemade mince pies. Nothing is as delicious as a homemade mince pie, and no pre-made one is ever likely to compete.
Over the years, the team at Nelstrops have tried hundreds of different recipes, and after extensive tasting (our favourite part), and experimentation, this is the best recipe we have tried.
The perfect mince pie should feature delicious crumbly pastry and your special additions to the shop-bought mincemeat. So, without further ado, let's dive into the ultimate Mince Pie Recipe.
As with all baking, the quality of the final mince pie is directly linked to the quality of the ingredients you use. At Nelstrops, we predominantly supply our flour to the hundreds of artisan bakers up and down the country, as they realise the high standards of our flour and don't want to trust their results to any other flour.
Ingredients
375g of Nelstrops Plain Flour
125g Icing Sugar (the finer sugar makes your pastry less grainy)
A Pinch of Fine Sea Salt
250g of Cold Unsalted Butter, cubed, plus a little extra for greasing purposes
1 Egg
1 portion of mincemeat
1 Egg beaten to glaze
2 Tablespoons of Demerara Sugar
1 Put the flour, icing sugar and salt into a large mixing bowl, and then mix to combine the three ingredients thoroughly. Then add the butter, rubbing it in with your fingertips. The trick to this process is to use cold butter, as this will prevent it from melting into the flour. You must regularly shake the bowl to bring any lumps of butter to the surface until it is all rubbed in.
2 Once the consistency of the mixture is fine and crumbly, it's time to add the egg. Continue to mix until you have transformed the mixture into a rough dough.
3 Remove the dough from the mixing bowl, and place it on your work surface. Spend a little time folding it to ensure all ingredients have been mixed in completely. Roll the dough completely flat, then wrap it in baking paper and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to cool down and rest.
4 Preheat your oven to 180c, Fan 160c or Gas Mark 4. Take a muffin tray with 12 spaces, and lightly butter and flour each compartment. Then remove the pastry from the fridge and let it soften slightly as it returns to room temperature.
5 Now, it's time to roll out the pastry to a depth of around 4-5 millimetres thick. As you are rolling it, consistently turn the pastry in quarter turns whilst dusting the work surface with extra flour to prevent it from sticking.
6 Once your pastry is ready, cut 12 circles for the base using a large round pastry cutter, around 10 cm. Then use a star cutter to cut out the tops, this adds a festive appearance and means you don’t need to make holes for the steam to escape. You may need to reroll your pastry a few times.
7 Place the base pastry into the 12 holes, ensuring they slightly overhang. Now spoon a generous amount of mincemeat into each one before completing the pie with the star tops.
8 Use the beaten egg to brush the top of your pies then, sprinkle some of the Demerara sugar over your masterpieces.
9 Now bake your mince pies for about 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown in colour.
10 Once removed from the oven, leave your pies in the tray for around 10 minutes. Then gently ease them out of the tray with a small knife. Now the most challenging part is to choose to leave them on a wire rack to cool or to bite into the delicious golden crust and savour the taste of your hard work!!
To speak to us about any of your baking questions or to discuss our products and how to order them call our customer service team today on 0161 480 3071