Frangipan mince pies

Another delayed post from December ! I don't really like the mince pies that you can buy as there is too much pastry and it gets stuck to the roof of your mouth ( Too much info??) however I make an exception for the mini mince pies that you can get as there is just enough not to make you feel like you have overdone it ..again.. I saw this recipe in Decembers Waitrose magazine and it didn't sound too difficult - there are a lot of stages to it which I like because it means I can do a bit and then leave it a while to play with Molly. So although these took me all day to make you could do them in an evening. They were delicious - maybe next time I will make my own mincemeat ... Truly Scrumptious!!

Taken from Waitrose December 2013 magazine

Frangipane Mince Pies

 

Makes about 24

150g Plain Flour ( plus extra for rolling)

1/2 tsp baking powder

25g caster sugar

75g unsalted butter , diced and chilled

75g Philidelphia soft cheese

50g ground almonds

1 egg yolk

410g mincemeat

50g flaked almonds

icing sugar for dusting

Frangipane

150g ground almonds

100g unsalted butter, softened

100g caster sugar

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

25g plain flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 lemon zest grated

·         For the pastry, tip the flour, baking powder, sugar and a pinch of salt into a food processor. Add the butter and pulse in short bursts until the mixture resembles fine sand. Add the soft cheese, ground almonds, egg yolk and 1tbsp cold water and blitz again until the dough starts to come together. Use your hands to bring the dough together to form a neat ball, ensuring you don't overwork the pastry. Flatten into a disc, cover with cling film and chill for at least an hour.

·         Lightly flour a work surface. Halve the dough and roll out one piece to a circle about 0.2cm thick. Using a 8cm fluted cutter stamp out as many circles as you can and use to line a shallow 12 hole bun tin, or you could use a muffin tin ( bigger ones!) gently pressing the dough into the holes. Repeat with the second half of the dough - you should aim for about 24 pastry discs in total. Chill the pastry cases for about 20 - 30 mins.

·         Preheat the oven to 180c, gas mark 4. For the frangipan whizz together all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth.

·         put 1sp of mincemeat into the bottom of each pastry case and top each with 1-2 tsp of frangipan, spreading it to cover the mincemeat. Scatter with flaked almonds and bake for about 20 mins until puffed up and golden brown. You may need to swap the trays over halfway so that they all brown evenly.

·         Remove from the oven and leave to cool in their tins for 4-5 mins. Then carefully transfer to a wire rack until they are at room temp and to make them look professional dust with icing powder!

·         enjoy!