In some 30 years of making mince pies for Christmas, I have only made my own mincemeat once. Frankly, it isnt worth the hassle. I now buy whatever is the supermarket’s premium quality one (they will have a range of 4 or 5 around now). I’ll be buying it in a few days and adding a good splash or two of sherry and/or brandy to it and let it mature until the week before Xmas, which is when we do most of our prep work.
Mince pies are usually individual affairs, rather than a single large pie. I use this Josceline Dimbleby recipe for the pastry which makes 24:
500g plain flour
125g icing sugar
375g butter
Grated rind and juice of 1 large orange
I use a 7.5cm cutter for the main part of the pie which is filled with a rounded teaspoon on mincemeat. A 5cm cutter does the top. The tops get a brush with milk and around 12 minutes in the oven at 220C.
I probably roll the pastry thinner than Ms D did as I always seem to have leftovers. All sort sof things you can do with orange flavoured pastry.
