Article: My go-to recipe for buttery, flaky mince pies
My go-to recipe for buttery, flaky mince pies
Nigella is the queen of Christmas in my house so my go-to recipe for the loveliest flaky and buttery mince pies is based on her 'Star-topped mince pies' recipe from the cookbook Nigella Christmas.
The main change I've made is I used 120g cold butter, whereas the original uses 60g butter and 60g vegetable shortening (Trex). I never have this on hand so always go full butter, but the flavour is delicious!
Star Topped Mince Pies
from Nigella's Christmas
(my version)
Makes 18
240g plain flour
120g butter
juice of 1 orange
pinch of salt
jar mincemeat
icing sugar for dusting
1. Measure flour into a bowl, then add butter, chopped into little cubes. Cover and place in the freezer for 20 mins - this helps the pastry become so flaky and delicious!
2. Tip the flour and butter into a food processor and blitz until it looks a bit like porridge oats. Add a pinch of salt to the orange juice and pour down the funnel into the mixer. Blitz to combine, adding some cold water if necessary.
Note: if you don't have a food processor, you can rub the butter into the flour using your finger tips, cool hands work best for this!
3. Tip the mix on to your work surface and combine to a dough, then wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to rest for 20 mins. Preheat your oven to 220C.
4. Using 2/3 of the dough, dust your work surface with a little flour then roll the dough out as thinly as possible. Take a round cutter slightly larger than your tart tin and cut out 18 circles. You may get 24 if you roll more thinly than I do!
5. Lightly grease your tart tin with a little butter, then press the circles into the moulds, adding a teaspoon of mincemeat.
(You really only need a small amount of mincemeat otherwise the pies will overflow, I'm always tempted to add more, and don't really mind it if they run over a bit, but if you are particular about the finished look, take this as your warning!)
6. Roll out the remaining 1/3 of dough and using a star cutter just the size of your tart tin, cut out enough stars to top your mince pies, placing them lightly on top of the mincemeat.
7. Bake for approximately 12 minutes, but keep an eye on them as the thickness of your pastry and varying ovens all differ here.
8. Remove from the oven and gently flip each pie out of the tin onto a cooling rack and once they have cooled a little, dust with icing sugar and serve.
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