EMMA'S MINCE PIES (NO SUET)

'Tis the Christmas season, we've hung up our stockings, the tree is heaving with baubles and bells, so far no one has sneaked a naughty chocolate from the advent calendar... Anyone who knows me knows I'm a Christmas fantatic and usually start getting excited around mid-october. Rather pathetic I know, but at least it means by the time the season is upon us I'm already pre-prepared. Today it was the turn of the mince pies. Since I can't get them in Italy and I forgot to bring some over from my last visit to the UK, I thought I'd make my own - they'll taste better I'm sure! I didn't use suet because a) doesn't exist in Italy, b) totally lardy, c) the vegetarian suet doesn't do it for me...

I made a simple shortcrust pastry and left it in the fridge for an hour while I prepared the mince meat.

Shortcrust pastry:

Plain Flour - 110 g (4 oz)
Fat - 25 g (1 oz) lard & 25 g (1 oz) Butter
Water - 1 tablespoon cold water
A pinch of salt

rub the butter and flour together until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then add the water and knead until you get a smooth, maleable dough.

There are endless recipes for mincemeat each as yummy as the other, but the basics as far as I'm concerned are: dried fruits, chopped nuts, lots of christmas spices and lashings of brandy. Here's my actual recipes, with human measurements...

three large cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped up.
four handfuls of brown sugar, the softer the better.
handful of chopped almonds
two handfuls of chopped dried figs
zest of a large lemon
zest and juice of an orange
handful of chopped candied orange peel
two handfuls of raisins (or sultanas)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp crushed cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
5 tablespoons of brandy

YUM!

I started by cooking the apples in a pan with a handful of sugar and the crushed cloves. Once they were almost purée-like I took them off the heat. I added the chopped figs, chopped nuts and all the other ingredients and finally the brandy.

Then I let the whole lot sit for an hour whilst I rolled the dough and cut circles to make my pie shapes. I heated the oven to 200° (400 F, I think...).

Put your dough circles into your little tart moulds, fill each tart with about a tablespoon of mincemeat, cover with another circle of dough and press together to close the pie. You can cut shapes and top your pies with those as well if you're feeling creative, or make one HUGE mince pie with a lattice topping. As long as there's lashings of brandy in your mincemeat, you can't go wrong!
Bake for about 25 minutes, until they are golden brown and your kitchen smells like Santa's workshop, and VOILA! Mince pie a go-go!

Serve with brandy butter, clotted cream, runny cream, ice cream, icing sugar, whatever takes your fancy!