Mini Mince Pies Recipe

Mini mince pies make delicious treats to serve to friends and family over the festive period, they're the perfect finger food, Making them smaller means people can pop them stright in their mouths and avoid any potential spills down party frocks!

This recipe calls for ready made mince meat, but you can of course make your own ahead of time. You can pre-prep the pies, too, and then simply warm them up when you're ready to serve them.

How To Make Mini Mince Pies

Ingredients

• 225g (8oz) unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened
• 100g (4oz) icing sugar
• 2 free-range egg yolks
• 2 drops vanilla essence
• 275g (9½oz) plain flour, plus extra
• 400g (14oz)

mincemeat

You will need

:

• 24-hole mini muffin tin, 5cm (2in) in diameter, pastry cutters, a rolling pin and a palette knife

Method

1. Place the butter in a food processor and pulse until soft. Sift in the icing sugar and pulse until all the sugar is incorporated. Add the egg yolks and vanilla essence and pulse until there's no streaky yolk in the mix. Sift in the flour and pulse again until you can see no flour and the pastry comes together in large flakes. Divide the mixture in 2, and shape into flattish circles in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.

2. Once the pastry is chilled and workable, roll out to £1 thickness on a well-floured surface. Cut out circles with a pastry cutter and gently push into the muffin tin. Fill with 1tsp mincemeat, then use festive cutters to make the tops. Chill well.

3. Heat the oven to 200C, 180C fan, gas 6. Glaze the mince pies with beaten egg and bake for 15 minutes until the pastry is golden and the mincemeat is bubbling over the sides. Allow to cool slightly in the tin, then cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve.