Easy Mince Pies ..... for the freezer

Last weekend I made my usual batch of mincemeat and decided while I was at it to make some mince pies for the freezer too. The pastry is no effort and is made entirely in the food processor (although you can do it by hand if you wish). It produces wonderfully crumbly pies, with a slight nutty flavour thanks to the ground almonds.

You don't have to freeze the pies of course and I give instructions below for baking them straight away, but I like to get ahead at Christmas and stashing a batch of these away in the freezer, I am safe in the knowledge I am just 20 minutes away from a warm homemade mince pie. Perfect for unexpected guests.

Printable Recipe

Ingredients: makes approx 16 pies

350g Mincemeat

200g Plain Flour

75g Ground Almonds

40g Caster Sugar

125g Butter, cubed

1 Egg

Milk for glaze.

Method:

Step 1: Butter a bun tin (you may need two).

Step 2: Place the flour, sugar, almonds and butter in a food processor and process until resembling breadcrumbs, then slowly add the egg through the feeder tube and pulse.

Step 3: Tip out onto the worktop and bring the pastry together with your hands, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 mins.

Step 4: If cooking straight away preheat the oven to 200c.

Step 5: Roll out just over half of the pastry (I like to do this between 2 sheets of clingfilm so I don't add too much more flour to the dough) and cut out 16 circles and place lightly into bun tin. Fill with the mincemeat then roll out of the remaining dough and cut out slightly smaller circles to place on top. If you are freezing them, pop the whole tin in the freezer and when the are completely frozen pop the pies out of the tins and into freezer bags. When you are ready to bake them pop them back into the bun tins and follow the rest of the recipe.

Step 6: Glaze the tops with milk (use a pastry brush) and bake in the preheated oven for around 20 minutes until golden.