Mince Pie makers ... please share your pastry secrets please!

[Millie1]

I've just taken my first batch of mince pies out of the oven. Eh ... They don't look great! I used Delia's recipe - pastry is flour, fat (50/50 butter/lard), water. First thing is, I didn't roll the pastry thinly enough so the lids are popping off some of the cases and they just look plain clumsy!

How do I make them look nicer - can't comment on taste just yet but I made my own mincemeat so hope they're nice!

Thanks!

Sure theyll taste delicious - there's nothing to beat a homemade mince pie with homemade mincemeat. My DH now refuses to eat shop-bought ones!

If you're worried about how they look, you could dust them generously with icing sugar - covers a multitude of sins

If you're making any more, try putting slightly less mincemeat in each one - I sometimes find the lids lift off if I've over-filled them. Also make sure you've dampened the edges and pressed them together to seal the lids on.

I made these yesterday because I happened to have some ground almonds in the cupboard. I used orange juice instead of water and they were very very yummy

www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mymincepies_71055

Also, inspired by the co-operative mincemeat jar (i salute you for using your own! I'm sure they'll taste wonderful) I used a star cutter to cut out a star for the top of each pie instead of the normal closed top - dusted with icing sugar (always makes things look amazing) they looked really good!

We use Delia's mincemeat recipe but I don't like her pastry at all. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's recipe for the pastry for his jam tarts in the River Cottage Family Cookbook is the best one, IMO. Uses icing sugar so is really, really yummy.

ps. Not really fussed what they look like. Sprinkle icing sugar on top, and then just break it open and stick some brandy butter on it, and it doesn't matter what it looks like!

I used to use trex, but it says you can use less because it has a higher fat content or something like that but I never did.

The pastry will be very sticky to handle but dont worry, it gives the flakiest pastry.

But I'm off palm oil now due to baby orangutangs and allergic to cows milk so I am officially buggered for making pastry now.

Keep everything cold, so trex/lard and marg straight out of fridge.

Flour and fat in foodprocessor with salt, turn to breadcrumbs then add water until forms a ball.

Put in fridge for at least half hour.

Then put oven on, roll out, don't overfill, put milk on undersides of lids

Use eggcup to form seal, press gently and make a nice circle at the edges.

Sprinkle with sugar

Bake for 15ish mins 190

Dust with icing sugar when cooling

Made 24 today, dcs have eaten them all I had 2

If using shop bought mince meat add extra brandy, I made plum brandy this year.

this is the best mince pie recipe I have ever found. So far everybody who has tasted them agrees! The pastry is biscuity and delicious. However, I do add a beaten egg to bind it and roll out rather than pressing into the tins as suggested. I cut out a star for the top, and also recently discovered that the crappier cheaper the mincemeat, the more likely it is to bubble up and burn.

Try with a shortcrust pastry, but using fresh orange juice instead of water. And make sure you brush the edge of the lids with water so they stick better.

It always works for me.

But at the end of the day, as long as they taste nice...

Thanks for all the advice. The pastry is horrible - it tastes like cardboard! . I'll look at the recipe links now but Flamingo, if you're around, would you be able to share the Hugh F-W recipe please?

I'm going to chuck the rest of the pastry cos I refuse to waste any more of my lovely mincemeat in it! Shall make more tomorrow using a different recipe for the pastry.

Thanks!

For the pastry it's all about the inclusion of ground almonds - recipe: yumblog.co.uk/archives/54

...and for the mincemeat it's a little twist of lemon - recipe: yumblog.co.uk/archives/53#more-53

Ooh. I've got some ground almonds in the cupboard. I'm going to try these.

Mine look crap, too big, with lids flopping off (let the kids roll out the pastry) but they taste great

Margarine in pastry

I haven't tried it yet, but there was a Q&A thread with Dan Lepard earlier this month and I am just about to make his pastry.

www.mumsnet.com/food/dan-lepards-easy-pastry-recipe

Can't use almonds as DS1 has a nut allergy. Have dug out Rachel Allen's recipe for sweet shortcrust pastry which looks nice so will try that later if I have time. Must have a look at Dan Lepard's recipe first though!

That Dan Lepard one is close to the recipe I use.
I would say don't add all the egg mixture at once and hope for the best: add half and see how it comes together (it takes longer than you think to work together into a ball). Add more if it really still feel crumbly; a little at a time.

A top tip I got from a pastry chef is when you're rubbing the butter and flour/sugar together, only use the tips of your fingers: your palms are too hot and the butter melts too quickly. I don't know how this really truly affects the pastry though.

My nanna taught me 3oz Trex to 1oz butter. Works brilliantly. Plus she claims we have an ancestor who worked as a pastry cook at Chatsworth House :D

I'm not great at pastry but find this works well.

Does anyone know how many mince pies a jar of mincemeat will make? I have 2 400g jars and want to make a vast quantity of mince pies.

I got about 18 out of one of my jars - they're homemade and in ordinary jam-jars.

Incidentally, I would highly recommend Rachel Allen's sweet shortcrust pastry recipe. I doubled it but will make more I think. It is absolutely delicious and I don't think the pies will last long!

Just made my first ever mince pies using Dan Lepard's sweet pastry recipe on here and I can't believe how lovely they turned out! He says the recipe is enough to make 10-12 pies, however I like my pastry thin, so it actually made 20.

They have turned out so well I can see myself having to make another batch before Christmas, as I doubt these will last!

The birds are having mine. I made some yesterday and DH said "lovely try darling, are they supposed to be this hard" Oh dear

Use a small amount of mincemeat, and I second using a star cutter for the lid, it makes it look like you have made more effort but really its to save it looking so untidy!

I also made Delia's mincemeat, but I just used bought pastry and rolled some grated orange rind into it.

Gastrognome when I read your comment I knew you were talking about the same recipe I use. Have been making it for a few years now and it is amazing. I will never use another, all those celeb chefs (for once) can sod off. I've stopped adding an egg - mainly to challenge myself that I CAN do this! It takes a while and a little perseverance but it eventually binds together. Like you I roll out the pastry and use cutters as I prefer the neater look, but otherwise this is my keeper mince pie recipe!