The forced cheerfulness, the crowds, the inevitable rain and anxiety about ones’ whole family gathering in one place can bring me out in hives if I’m perfectly honest. But I do love food and this year I’ve decided NOT to be a Grinch and it’s about time I try to embrace the Christmas spirit or just settle for finding it.
Right, so as I type it’s the 11th December and the shopping for presents is done, tick. The (real) tree is lit up, decorated and smelling lovely, tick. Oversized red stockings are on order and Amazon assures me they’re coming, tick. So far so good. However, the Christmas cheer isn’t spreading through me so much as I’m going through the motions… So last Sunday I went shopping in Manchester city centre. I wish I hadn’t, I thought the high street was dying, that no one shopped in stores anymore, that the consumer had moved online! Who were all these people?! Breathing became a challenge in one retailer such were the swarms, there was no stopping to enjoy beautiful lights; it was all elbows and rush, rush, rush. My friends and I managed a couple of hours before giving up and going home.
Which leads me nicely to this recipe: more tinkering per se rather than cooking. Please feel free to use shop bought puff or even shortcrust pastry if you’re not inclined to bring out the heavy machinery. Making mince pies is as close as I get to the spirit of the holidays and that is quite alright.
For the mince pies:
1 jar shop bought mincemeat (NOT the cheapest)
50g flaked almonds
50g dried cranberries, dried cherries would be fine
Brandy to taste
Make the mincemeat the day before (at least) to get the flavours to mellow: Add the almonds and cranberries to the shop bought mincemeat in a bowl and mix. Add brandy to taste, can I suggest adding so much as it doesn’t feel like you’re apologising for it. Be brave.
For the pastry:
240g plain flour
120g cubed unsalted butter
Zest of 1 clementine/easy peeler/tangerine, etc…
Juice of which ever citrus chosen with a pinch of salt added
To make the pastry I use an electric stand mixer with a paddle attachment, a food processor would work, as would a mixing bowl and wooden spoon.
1. Put the flour, zest and butter in the bowl and mix until it resembles fat clumps of oatmeal, cover and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 200⁰C and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper.
3. Switch on the mixer and slowly drizzle in the citrus juice until it almost come together to form a dough, it may not be necessary to add all the juice. If you need more liquid, some iced water will do fine.
4. Form the dough into 3 balls, clingfilm and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
5. Roll out each ball onto a lightly floured surface to around 2mm thickness.
6. Cut out 13 5cm diameter circles using a cookie cutter and place on the lined baking sheet.
7. Dollop a teaspoon of the mincemeat onto each circle.
8. Reform the scraps into a ball and roll again. Then cut out another 13 more 5cm diameter circles using a cookie cutter, this time using a very small star cutter to make a hole and place on top of the mincemeat, sealing the edges with the twines of a fork.
9. Place in the oven and bake for 10-15minutes.
10. Repeat with the other 2 balls.
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year xo
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