Mince pie trees

Mince pie trees

Love mince pies? They you'll love these little tree-shaped Danish pastry-like bites, with their layers of buttery pastry bonded with fruity, gooey mincemeat

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

20 mins plus chilling
Freezable

Low-fat

uncooked

Method

  1. Heat oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment. Unroll one of the pastry sheets onto a lightly floured surface, with the long edge nearest you. Spread with mincemeat, top with the second sheet of pastry, then cut in half, widthways, down the middle.
  2. For each piece, cut into 4 strips down, measuring 6cm, 4cm, 2cm, and 1cm in width. Next, cut across evenly to make 12 'ladders' of pastry. Dip the knife in flour if it sticks. Brush with egg. Chill for 10 mins.
  3. Build the trees on the baking sheets. Stack the strips, mincemeat middles facing up, starting with the longest and finishing with the smallest. It helps them look more tree- like if you fold them a little in the middle, too. Once stacked, squash with your hand to flatten into a tree shape. Can be frozen for up to a month. Bake for 20 mins (25 mins from frozen) or until the pastry is golden and the mincemeat bubbling. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 mins, then lift onto a wire rack with a palette knife and let cool completely. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

Per tree

111 kcalories, protein 1g, carbohydrate 16g, fat 5 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 0g, sugar 9g, salt 0.16 g

Recipe from Good Food magazine, January 2009.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo Nead

    12 December 2008

    Nead rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo amy

    15 December 2008

    amy rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    I was really disppointed with this recipe. I used really good quality pastry and mincemeat and it was a little bland. It was difficult to get a decent quantity of mincemeat to stay between the pastry layers. It was incredibly messy to make and my first batch completely welded themselves to the parchment. I heavily oiled a tray and put them straight on it for the second batch which worked better. I wouldn't make them again.

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  • Binder photo Chan's Favs

    15 December 2008

    Chan's Favs commented on this recipe

    I made these the other day for a festive school mums coffee morning and they went down a treat. It takes a bit of thinking to get your head around the recipe, but worth the effort. I forgot to flatten, which was fine, but they do spread, so make sure you have enough space. I would make these again.

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  • Binder photo ratryn

    17 December 2008

    ratryn rated and commented on this recipe

    4 stars

    These were lovely -t he recipe is confusing but simple when you get it straight. tasted lovely especially good for people whop dont like overpowering mincemeat

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  • Binder photo janet

    07 July 2009

    janet rated and commented on this recipe

    2 stars

    I did a practice run with these after reading the comments and Oh am I glad! I dont think I understood the stacking properly as I am not sure how you can stack mincemeat middles any other way than facing up. I also feel that the cutting, glazing and chilling process would be easier done totally on the baking sheet, as it is very fiddly transferring all the individual pieces. And not sure about everyone else but the cooking time was far too long. One of the trees did look quite good when my neice Connie doubled the bottom layer and we felt that maybe the addition of two more layers at the base of the tree would make it look more tree-like. I would appreciate advice on this as I dont like to feel beaten by a Christmas tree!! The taste however was good.

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  • Binder photo Darrell

    07 July 2010

    Darrell rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    This recipe is in the 'easy' category, but can be norsed up. Its mucky & it takes patience. But get the proportions right and they're tasty and attractive. I think they're brill and fun and everything Christmas should be

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  • Binder photo Darrell

    12 December 2010

    Darrell commented on this recipe

    These are brilliant! You need an engineering degree to get them perfect but with good ingredients and some patience they certainly win over a crowd!

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  • Binder photo kayleighmk

    19 December 2011

    kayleighmk rated and commented on this recipe

    1 stars

    i got so fed up making these! i doubled up the recipe and was working on making about 6 to a tray to allow space for them to spread, out of the 6 trays i made i ended up with one small container of trees (maybe 10?) that stayed together or didnt stick to the grease proof paper! it was messy and very time consuming! i got to the end of the 3rd batch and gave up unfortunately the rest went in the bin, what a waste of time and money!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 20 mins

Cook time

Cook 15 mins

20 mins plus chilling
Freezable

Low-fat

uncooked

Ingredients

  • plain flour , for dusting
  • 425g pack ready-rolled puff pastry (2 sheets in each pack)
  • 350g jar mincemeat
  • 1 egg , beaten
  • 1 icing sugar , to serve
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Per tree

111 kcalories, protein 1g, carbohydrate 16g, fat 5 g, saturated fat 2g, fibre 0g, sugar 9g, salt 0.16 g

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