No Christmas treat is more iconic than a mince pie. The melt in-the-mouth pastry, an explosion of Christmas flavours and a dusting of snow-like icing sugar make this one of the most moreish Christmas time foods. Mince pies go great with rich, fortified wines such as port, but our personal favourite wine to have alongside them is the Old Vine Garnacha, the full-bodied red balances with the pastry, meat and fruits better than you could imagine! Nothing says Christmas quite like huddling in front of an open fire, nibbling off a tray of home-baked mince pies and a glass of smooth and silky red wine. To help you have the ultimate Christmas evening in, here’s a simple mince pie recipe that takes around 1 hour in total. Well worth the time!
What you’ll need:
- 375g plain flour
- 260g unsalted butter
- 125g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- around 600g of mincemeat (1 jar)
- 2 satsumas
- 1 apple
- icing sugar
The Pastry:
Start by mixing the flour and butter together in a bowl with your hands until you reach a crumby consistency. You can then add 125g of caster sugar and one large beaten egg and mix. Once this mixture starts to resemble a pastry, you can then pour it out onto a floured surface and fold the pastry until it all comes together. Then, wrap the pastry up in clingfilm and leave it to chill in the fridge for 10 minutes, and just like that you’ve made your own pastry!
The Pies:
You’ll want to preheat your oven to 220 °C/200 °C fan/gas 7. You can now start mixing together that moreish filling, put your mince meat, segmented satsuma and finely chopped apple into a bowl and mix together. You can also add some zest from the tangerine skin, or similar citrus fruits. Grab your pastry and roll it until it’s around 4mm thick but be careful not to tear it, you're then going to use a round cutter (around 10cm in diameter) to cut the pastry into around 16 circles, remember you still need enough pastry to make the lids of the pies so plan accordingly. Place the pastry circles in a muffin tray and spoon in around half a tablespoon of your mince pie filling, before glazing the top edges of the pastry with beaten egg. You can get creative with the lids and do them in any shape or style you like, as long as the filling is partly exposed in one way or another. You can now place your mince pies in the oven to bake until golden brown which should take 15-20 minutes. Leave them to cool before removing them from their tray and finish with a dusting of icing sugar.
You can now enjoy your Christmas treats alongside our best wine for a Christmas evening in, the Old Vine Garnacha. However, it is more common to enjoy your mince pies alongside a fortified wine. Tawny port or a sweet madeira are two iconic pairings for mince pies, a mulled wine also goes down a treat on a cold winter’s evening. Whatever you drink alongside your mince pies, we hope you enjoy and have a great Christmas!
