When it comes to festive baking, it doesn’t get much more Christmassy than mince pies, and few places do them better than the renowned London bakery
Matthew Jones of famous bakery and cookery school Bread Ahead is no stranger to the world of books, he’s had many a best-selling recipe book published, but this Christmas he’s releasing his first children’s storybook. Magical Mince Pies is a bedtime story and cookbook combined; designed to inspire a love of baking in younger children. Join Francis, his baker Dad, and Bread Ahead’s social media sensation cat Leopoldas Maximus as they take you on a magical journey to create a special mince pie to help Father Christmas fly! Full of practical information and fun facts, it includes the recipes for Bread Ahead’s famous mincemeat and mince pies. Charmingly illustrated and great fun to read out loud, this promises to be a book you return to year after year. Time to start making family traditions… and mince pies.
£8.99, available from breadahead.com
*Makes 12*
INGREDIENTS
Mincemeat
125g cooking apples, peeled, cored and finely diced | 125g sultanas | 125g currants | 125g raisins | 125g shredded suet or grated vegetable shortening | 125g soft dark brown sugar | 35g flaked almonds | 1 tsp mixed spice | 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon | ½ tsp grated nutmeg | zest and juice of 1 lemon | zest and juice of 1 orange
Pies
375g strong white (bread) or plain flour, plus extra for dusting |150g caster sugar | pinch of fine sea salt | 225g unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing | 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk | 1 jar of mincemeat | 1 egg (beaten) to glaze | 2 tbsp demerara sugar
METHOD
For the mincemeat
DAY 1: Put all of the ingredients into a very large mixing bowl and mix. Cover and leave overnight in a cool place (but not the fridge).
DAY 2: Preheat the oven to 120°C. Line a deep roasting pan with baking paper. Spread all the mincemeat mixture into the pan and bake for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for about 30 minutes. The mincemeat will keep in sterilised jars for three months and gets better with age.
For the pies
1 Put the flour, caster sugar and salt into a mixing bowl and give it a whisk. Add the cold butter and rub it in with cool fingertips, shaking and rubbing in until you have a mixture that looks like breadcrumbs.
2 Add the egg yolk and roll the pastry into a rough dough. Put the dough on a floured work surface and bring it together. Give it a few gentle kneads and folds. Roll into a ball and flatten it into a disc. Wrap it in baking paper or cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
3 Preheat your oven to 160°C. Butter and sprinkle flour in each of the dips in a muffin tray.
4 Take the pastry from the fridge and let it get to room temperature.
5 Roll the pastry out onto your floured work surface to 4-5mm thick. Remember to turn one quarter each time as you roll, dusting the work surface with a little extra flour so it does not stick.
6 Cut out 12 circles for the base of the pies with a 10cm round pastry cutter. Cut out 12 circles for the tops of the pies with 7cm pastry cutter. Line the dips in the muffin tray with the bigger circles of pastry, letting it overhang the sides of each dip a little. Spoon about 3 tbsp of mincemeat into each one. Top with the smaller circles.
7 Brush the tops of the pies with your beaten egg. Bring up the overhanging pastry and pinch together with the top. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.
8 Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until golden brown.
9 Leave the pies in the tray for 5 minutes to cool a little, then take out carefully, using a small knife. Put on a wire rack to cool.
10 Serve warm with some cream if you like.
Enjoy!
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