We love mince pies at home, and I usually make two batches - traditional and Fragipane ones. I love both equally. My husband likes a slice of cheese on top of his traditional one, but I think that's a step too far!
Makes 12
Preparation & Baking time: 20 minutes to prepare pastry & topping, 3 hours to chill and 25 minutes for baking
Ingredients
For the pastry
165g Plain Flour
25g Ground Almonds
120g Butter (cold, diced)
55g Caster Sugar
1 Egg (medium size)
For the Frangipane topping
100g Butter (softened)
100g Caster Sugar
40g Plain Flour
60g Ground Almonds
2 Eggs (large size, beaten)
2 Tbsp Flaked Almonds
How I make the pastry
Stir the flour and ground almonds together. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can do this in a food processor but I love making pastry by hand as it's a nod to my late Grandma.
Stir in the sugar. Gradually add in the egg and work the the mixture until it forms a soft dough. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and first form a ball, then flatten to create a disc shape and wrap in cling film. Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours!
When ready, I use a fluted cutter to stamp out my discs to a c.3mm thickness and makes 12 discs.
How I make the frangipane
Beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix well.
Add the beaten eggs and stir until fully incorporated. Stir in the ground almonds.
Put the frangipane into a piping bag as this will be easier to handle when assembling.
To assemble and bake
Pre-heat your oven to 200ºc Fan.
Using a muffin tin, which you need to pre-grease, add your pastry disc and spoon 1-2 Tsp of mincemeat mixture into your pastry case.
Pipe over enough frangipane to cover the top of the pastry case. Smooth it over and scatter flaked almonds over the top.
Bake for 20 minutes, but watch them as all ovens are different!
Leave to cool for 5 minutes in the tin, before transferring to a wire rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.
Goes really well with a nice cup of tea!
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