Festive Mince Pies

Cooking is a great pastime and it’s good for your soul!  It stirs your creative juices and is very therapeutic.  Many people cook when they are stressed to help them to relax.  In fact, cooking can be a kind of meditation if you really immerse yourself totally into the creative process that it is!  Give it a go, instead of seeing it as a chore, see it as a licence to increase and attract more creativity into your life.

Here’s a recipe to get you into the festive season, the good old favourite mince pie!!  Have a go and enjoy!!

You will need:

350g (12 oz) of mincemeat

1 large egg, beaten

2 tablespoons caster sugar

225g (8 oz) plain flour

125g (4½ oz) butter, diced

milk, to glaze

Method

Preparation time approx. 1 hour

Cooking time approx. 20 minutes

Ready to eat in 1 hour and 20 minutes!

1. Lightly butter a 12-case patty tin. Tip the mincemeat into a bowl and stir so that the liquid is mixed in evenly.
2. Place the flour, sugar and butter in a food processor and process briefly until resembling breadcrumbs, then slowly add the egg through the feeder tube (or rub the butter into the dry ingredients by hand and stir in the egg).
3. knead the mixture together with your hands, wrap in cling film and chill for an hour. Thinly roll out the pastry onto a floured surface. Cut out 12 circles with a fluted pastry cutter, large enough to fill the cases in the patty tin. Press gently into each case, then fill evenly with the mincemeat.
4. Cut out another 12 slightly smaller circles and use to cover the mincemeat. Press the edges together with the end of a fork to seal. Make a small slit in the top of each, then brush lightly with milk. Chill for about 30 minutes.
5. While chilling, preheat the oven to 200 C / Gas Mark 6. Bake the pies for 20 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and serve warm. Enjoy!

Sherry Taylor

Author of The Anti-Diet Lifestyle