Orange Pastry Mince Pies

Now I must confess, I'm not much of a Xmas cake / pudding / mince pie kinda girl, but as I had a jar of luxury mincemeat from Tuppenny Barn sitting in my cupboard needing using, it was about time I manned up and tried my making my own.  Plus spurred on by my recent cupcake decorating evening with Frog Hollow Catering, I thought I could try and adapt the Mince Pie to make it more my own style.

The recipe for the orange pastry (and the jar of mincemeat!!) came from my friend, Jane.  I've always found shop-bought mince pies a bit claggy in texture, so the thought of a short, high fat ratio pastry, made making mince pies more appealing.  Higher fat in pastry = less shrinkage and gives a more melt in the mouth texture.

Recipe for the pastry
200g plain flour
100g cold butter cut into small chunks
50g lard - as with butter
Grated rind of one large orange
Orange juice to bind

I made 12 large and 12 mini mince pies with this amount of pastry, but I didn't have full pastry tops.

Put the flour, butter, lard and orange rind into a food processor and blitz until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add enough orange juice until the mixture starts forming a ball.   Wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 30 minutes.  I made my pastry the day before, so it was nice and cold.

Roll out your pastry as thinly as possible (mine needs to be thinner next time).  Then start cutting out your bases and popping into greased tart tins.  I used a 2 5/8in cutter for my mini mince pies and a 3 1/16 in cutter for the larger ones.  Fill (but not overfill - made that mistake) with your mincemeat and add your topping of choice.  For the larger mince pies I used little pastry shapes and for the mini mince pies I added fondant icing snowflakes after they were baked.

Bake in a 200c static oven for 20 - 25 minutes or until puffed up and light golden brown in colour.

Allow to cool slightly......................... and then eat!

Very yummy, even if I do say so myself.  I might have been converted!

Happy baking and to a prosperous 2013!