Unbelievably easy mince pies

Unbelievably easy mince pies

You can throw the dough around and the mince pies still come out crisp and biscuity in this kid-friendly Christmas recipe

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 18 pies

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 30 - 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Freezable

Can be frozen uncooked

Method

  1. To make the pastry, rub 225g cold, diced butter into 350g plain flour, then mix in 100g golden caster sugar and a pinch of salt. Combine the pastry into a ball - don't add liquid - and knead it briefly. The dough will be fairly firm, like shortbread dough. You can use the dough immediately, or chill for later.
  2. Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Line 18 holes of two 12-hole patty tins, by pressing small walnut-sized balls of pastry into each hole. Spoon 280g mincemeat into the pies.
  3. Take slightly smaller balls of pastry than before and pat them out between your hands to make round lids, big enough to cover the pies. Top the pies with their lids, pressing the edges gently together to seal - you don't need to seal them with milk or egg as they will stick on their own. (The pies may now be frozen for up to 1 month).
  4. Beat 1 small egg and brush the tops of the pies. Bake for 20 minutes until golden. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack. To serve, lightly dust with icing sugar. They will keep for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container.

Per pie

222 kcalories, protein 2g, carbohydrate 30g, fat 11 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 1g, sugar 12g, salt 0.26 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, December 2002.

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Latest comments and suggestions

Results 121-140

  • Binder photo Lucy C

    22 December 2009

    Lucy C rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Best mince pies ever. I warmed my hands up in some warm water and that was enough to bind this dough together. Kneaded it for a minute or two and working with it in my hands (and my 2yr old helped!) made the butter melt... Pies cooled for ten minutes in the tin - I turned them slightly in the tin then eased them out with a baby spoon. I set them upside down on a wire rack to cool them as I found the wire rack cut into the bottom a little. FAB! Crispy, crumbly...never again will I use another recipe or method!

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  • Binder photo PopsyJo

    22 December 2009

    PopsyJo rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Spot on

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  • Binder photo Suzanne

    22 December 2009

    Suzanne rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Just made a batch of these. I used a whole beaten egg after reading the other comments and it worked perfectly. I rolled the pastry and greased the tins. The pies came out easily even straight from the oven (I needed the tin for the second batch!). I made 24 pies with dough to spare but I did put heart shapes on top instead of a full lid. Tasted straight from the oven and didn't think they were that great, but once they start to cool they crisped up a treat!

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  • Binder photo Katie

    22 December 2009

    Katie commented on this recipe

    Quick qustion I want to freeze a batch, when i come to cooking them, can I cook from frozen or do I defrost 1st?

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  • Binder photo Andy26172

    22 December 2009

    Andy26172 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Having made mince pie's for the last 15 years I thought i'd got my perfect recipe. Then I read this one and thought I'd give it a go. I read all the comments and added half an egg to help bind the dough. I tried rolling out (between cling film) and squishing the dough with fingers and found that fingers were definately better. You can get the dough a lot thinner and it doesn't split in the oven. I greased the tins with melted butter first and gave them about 5 minutes to cool before lifting them out and had no problems at all. I made about 18 with this amount of dough. I also tried making them in a mini muffin tin and squashing the dough round the tin with your thumb is definately easier than trying to fit a disc of pastry in. Everyone who ate these said they were the best, my husband asked me not to make the others anymore!! One more tip - I ran out of lids so used some marzipan I had left from decorating the cake and they were lovely too.

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  • Binder photo jellybean

    23 December 2009

    jellybean rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This recipe was a huge mistake. I am now permanently tied to the kitchen being forced to bake these mince pies for everyone, and I mean everyone! These have gone down a storm. I added the half an egg so I could roll the pastry and it really did the trick. I also found wrapping the pastry and popping it in the fridge to rest and cool made it a little easier to handle. I cooked the pies in a mini muffin pan to make a small deep filled pie which was really tasty. I had no problem removing from the pan or with crumbling, I got 24 small pies from this recipe. This will definitely become a family heirloom.

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  • Binder photo Lisa

    24 December 2009

    Lisa rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Kelly

    24 December 2009

    Kelly rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Jackster

    26 December 2009

    Jackster rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Jelly75

    26 December 2009

    Jelly75 rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Micky

    28 December 2009

    Micky rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo GH

    29 December 2009

    GH rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Abi

    30 December 2009

    Abi rated this recipe

    4 stars

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  • Binder photo Lou

    03 January 2010

    Lou rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo jmonelle

    07 January 2010

    jmonelle rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo MrsH

    10 January 2010

    MrsH rated this recipe

    2 stars

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  • Binder photo natstace

    13 January 2010

    natstace rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Micky

    31 March 2010

    Micky commented on this recipe

    Was not able to leave my comments before now but here goes,glad to see the comments part back. FANTASTICO!!!!!....This recipe was fab,even my hubby who is not much of a mincemeat man LOVED them!It was all down to the pastry,the first time i put the egg in the pastry ....It was delisch and biscuity..The 2nd time i omitted the egg and the pastry was even lighter!Rather than rolling into little balls i just pressed the pastry into the tins little by little.The other remark is that no filing seeped out ,could not believe my eyes!Tip on getting the pies out,let them sit for 10mins then ease them out having gone round gently with a small knife.

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  • Binder photo JohnH

    15 September 2010

    JohnH rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    First time making shortcrust pastry did it exact to recipe it all went great, have done mincepies ,slightly larger blackberry pies and have just finished rubarb pies, rolled pastry between cling film and had no problems. Great recipe Thank You.

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  • Binder photo Candida

    07 October 2010

    Candida commented on this recipe

    Easy to make but difficult to get out, so ended up with about 6 broken ones but they were utterly delicious. I shall grease the patty tin next time.

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 18 pies

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 30 - 40 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Freezable

Can be frozen uncooked

Ingredients

  • 225g cold butter , diced
  • 350g plain flour
  • 100g golden caster sugar
  • 280g mincemeat
  • 1 small egg
  • icing sugar , to dust
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Per pie

222 kcalories, protein 2g, carbohydrate 30g, fat 11 g, saturated fat 7g, fibre 1g, sugar 12g, salt 0.26 g

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