Mince Pies – But not how you know it!

Well, you’ll see these and say straight away “They’re not mince pies” and true, they’re not your traditional mince pie, but these are a twist on them!
I originally had one of these when visiting Jamie Olivers Italian in Bath earlier this month, and decided to give them a go. Although he puts pepper in them, it’s not essential!

They consist of puff pastry, rolled with mincemeat, and then put into a filo pastry case!

But really, give them a go! They’re delicious!

First of all set the oven to fan 200°C
You’ll need to following equipment:

2 X 12 hole muffin tins
Pastry brush
Rolling pin

and ingredients:

• 100g good-quality mincemeat
• 25g dried cranberries or sour cherries, chopped
• zest of 2 clementines
• flour, to dust
• 250g good puff pastry
• 1 pack filo pastry
• 50g melted butter
• 50g flaked almonds (if desired)
• icing sugar, to dust

Start off by rolling your puff pastry out until around the size of a standard tea towel, and a few cm thick.

Next spread over your mincemeat so it coats almost the whole thing, then scatter over your chopped cranberries/sour cherries and the zest of the Clementines.

Roll up the pastry into a tight sausage shape, so it has many layers of mincemeat and pastry, then chop into 24 even slices/circles

For the filo, either spread a few sheets out, sticking together with butter, or cut out squares about 1 inch larger than the base and sides of each cupcake hole.

Then spread the butter all over on once size (This will keep the pastry from sticking) and place butter side down onto each cupcake hole/mould, pressing down, so it sticks to all the size, with it overlapping over the top. Fill in any holes in the filo, with an extra buttered piece of filo.

Then add each slice of the puff pastry roll into an individual filo case with the layers pointing upwards. Top with the flaked almonds and plenty of icing sugar, before baking in the oven for about 25 -30 mins or until the filo is golden and the puff pastry has expanded.

Leave to cool for about 5/10 minutes until releasing each mince pie from the moulds, before dusting with more icing sugar!

These will last a good week or two! So enjoy!