A traditional British Christmas pie, filled with mincemeat - a rich preserve of boozy chopped dried fruits and spices. This recipe is an attempt to recreate the medieval version of mince pies which contained meat.
Recipe by Vijitha Mammen on December 1, 2020
5 stars (6 reviews)
Christmas recipes, Festive, Traditional British
- Take brown sugar and ¼ cup of red wine in a large saucepan. Heat on low flame and stir gently till the sugar dissolves.
- Add cranberries, ground spices, raisins, chopped dried fig, orange zest and orange juice.
- Simmer and cook till the fruits break down and most of the liquid is reduced. (It took me 15 minutes for this.)
- Switch the flame off, and keep the pan covered.
- In a frying pan, take some butter, just enough to grease the pan. If you are using a non-stick frying pan, you can avoid using butter.
- Add the ground meat, salt and 1½ tsp of red wine to the frying pan. Heat it on low flame and saute till the meat looks cooked. Switch the flame off and keep aside.
- Now, take the sauce pan with the spiced fruit mixture. Squish the cranberries and other fruits using a potato masher or the back of a spoon.
- To the fruit mixture, add the cooked meat (along with any fat released), chopped almonds, honey and brandy / rum / whiskey.
- Mix well. The mincemeat is ready.
- Cool completely and transfer to sterilised jars. They can be stored in the fridge for a week.
- Grease a muffin baking mould or a tartlet tin with butter.
- Lay a single sheet of rolled puff pastry flat on a board. Cut out circles from the pastry sheet. The circles should only be slightly wider than a single muffin / tartlet mould. Place these circles into the moulds.
- Poke holes on the pastry using a fork. This helps retain the shape while baking.
- Spoon a teaspoon of mincemeat into each.
- Next, cut out the pastry toppers. You can use cookie cutters for this. I used star-shaped ones.
- Place the pastry toppers on the mincemeat filled pies.
- Prepare an egg wash by beating a whole egg in a small bowl and brushing it onto the pastry topper and edges of the pie crust.
- Bake at 180 deg C for 10 minutes or till the pie toppers start browning.
- Remove from the oven. Take the tiny pies out of the baking tray and cool completely.
- Dust with powdered sugar and serve on its own or with brandy butter.