who makes mince pies? who buys them? who's convinced they *can't* make them?

[hatwoman]

because I am coming over positively evangelical with the discovery that I can make them and I can make pastry - I have spent years thinking it was beyond me, and buying into Nigella's "you'll never make pastry as good as bought so why bother" bollocks - and, more annoyingly, buying into Waitrose all butter god knows how much for a box of 6. But I have made my own this year - and they are, though I say it myself, loads better than any bought. they're as good as my mum's (perhaps to do with it being her recipe) amd I am absolutely delighted. ladies (and gentle men) of mumsnet, I entreat you, find a good recipe and get the rolling pin out. You won't regret it.

I can't make them but DP has made some this afternoon, I'm going to heat them up in a moment.
I suspect I could have better, but they look like a good attempt.

I make my own, mum's recipe, never fails, delicious, but I can only eat four with one cup of coffee!!!

Not struck on shop bought cakes or mince pies, it's the way I was dragged brought up, on my mum's home cooking!

I don;t like 'em

come on then, hatwoman, what is the recipe?!!?

Am attempting first go at homemade this year.

I make them

but i do find the whole thing a huge fiddle

they're so different from shop bought ones though, no real comparison

i tend to buy the most expensive mincemeat in tescos...i have made the mincemeat too, but wasn't convinced it was worth it!

I make mine.
For a couple of christmasses I bought them but this year I have made 4 xmas cakes, and I will be making Mince Pies, Lemon curd and jam tarts and Bakewell tarts

make them pastry on the bottom crumble mixture with chopped up hazlenuts on top

I make the pastry but not the mince meat.
Sometimes use my Mums orange pastry recipe to make a change.
Mine nearly always taste better than shop bought.

I buy ready made pastry and a jar of mincemeat and my dc are convinced I am a great cook - even though they don't like mince pies they will eat one each because they helped mummy 'make' them. I do the same actually.

It's only dh and my mum who like them.

Dh's friend makes his own pastry (orange like Tort's mum) and his own mincemeat.

I have just made some with the children we enjoy making them together and I think they taste much nicer

I make them myself - including the mince meat itself. I don't like them myself, but most people who get offered one seems to gobble up six, so they can't be all that bad.

We hold a Mince Pie & Mulled Wine Party each year on the second Sunday in Advent. We ask people coming to bring a bottle of red wine "for the pot" and I make the mince pies. I generally make the mince in October/early November and the pies a day beforehand. This year I made 144 and they have all gone. Last year it was 192 (but we had an especially large number of people coming). I swear each year that I am never doing it again, but somehow Christmas just wouldn't be the same without it .....

I make 'em. My mum cleverly convinced me when I was 11 that my pastry was better than hers (which it isn't, but she gushes enough to make the whole thing a positive experience).

I would say: freshness is all, so don't make too many (you could make all the pastry in one go and freeze half). IME how fresh they are outweighs how light a touch you have with pastry etc.

Oh ocatvia please would you share the recipe? They sound utterly delicious!!

I always buy them, but am convinced homemade ones must taste better!

any good pastry recipes?

hatwoman - me too! made them for the first time this year and they are bloody lovely. its a bit tricky getting the pastry/mincemeat ratio right, but i think i've cracked it now. only problem is they taste so good we keep eating them, which is not very advent-y. trying to keep them for christmas eve onwards., so we appreciate them!

144 mince pies

yummers - me too. they are too good to put in the freezer

I hate mincemeat so Inever make them!

I make chocolate pies instead, same as mince pies but with yummy gooey chocolate moose filling! yum yum

and mini lemon mirangue pies too.

I only like homemade mince pies, I use Nigella's recipe, the pastry is nice & light.

i make them, well, the pastry and buy the mince meat but the way i see it, if i've put them in the oven then i made them... got some awful mincemeat last year though which ruined them, find that just the basic mince meat is the best

for those interested here's my pastry recipe - can be orange or plain

1 lb plain flour
half pound butter
4 oz lard

either - starting with cold fat chop fat into small pieces then rub fat in to the flour - gently til it looks like breadcrumbs. because this is very rich and has a higher proportion of fat to flour than normal short-crust rubbing in takes 'kin ages. there's no particular reason why you have to do it in the kitchen though - I did it infront of the telly. also because it takes so long take a break and pop it in the fridge for 10 minutes,

or - freeze the fat and then grate it into the flour - quicker but a bit less satisying.

for the orange version: stirr in the finely grated rind of one orange. use the orange juice (add gradually) to bind the bread-crumb like stuff into something that looks like pastry

for the plain version - just use a bit of water - add a bit at a time to bind it.

put it back in the fridge for at least half an hour - preferably more. I've been making the pastry one evening and then the pies another.

when rolling out - only take a bit at a time out of the fridge. if it gets warm put it back.

for an unusual but gorgeous touch mix some cream cheese with some sifted icing sugar - just to sweeten it a bit - just do it by taste - and top the mince meat with a teaspoon of this before putting the pastry lid on. this is particularly good with the orange pastry - but not to every one's taste so a good idea to mark the cream cheese ones somehow (my mum always does an extra snip in the lid)

hatwoman's instructions have what for me are the two really salient points

1. Use lard in the pastry

2. Keep the pastry nice and cold

I found my pastry making improved hugely when I started using a marble board and rolling pin instead of wooden as it seems to help the pastry stay cool.