This post is sponsored by Doves Farm Flour

What makes a good mince pie? The two elements are just pastry and mincemeat and with both you have lots of directions you could go in and lots of styles you could try. My favourite mince pie s uses pastry which is incredibly flaky and full of flavour. To take that idea I have made a pastry with Doves Farm Organic White Spelt Flour (you could also happily use the wholemeal version). For me, white spelt flour is great when you want something that doesn’t stray too far from the classic flavour, but you just want a touch more depth and a little nuttiness. Spelt is also one of the easiest flours to use if your wanting to try different grains but are concerned about how the flour will work in your recipes, spelt is often a 1:1 swap for traditional plain flour. 

For the filling I have stuck to shop bought mincemeat. This might be seen heretical to some, but you know what? It’s a busy season and I’ll happily take a short cut here and there, don’t come for me or I will tell you how I also use shop bought puff pastry. If you’re better than me and want to make your own mincemeat then I would choose a untraditional style and make something that is a little closer to a Eccles cake filling, less syrupy than traditional mincemeat, it would great in this style pastry. Since I am being a little lazy with the mincemeat I am adding a second filling, a custard with a touch of booze, because boozy custard is the appropriate filling as far as I am concerned when it comes to Christmas. 

The key to this flaky pastry is keeping the pieces of butter large, when the pastry is formed these chunks of pastry become thin shards that appear throughout the pastry meaning that when the pastry hits the hot oven the water in the butter evaporates and creates lots of flaky layers. Making this pastry with Doves Farm White Organic Spelt is the same process as with plain flour, so there is no need to stress about making these. The recipe is simple and more than achievable. 

Doves Farm Organic White Spelt Flour is available from Ocado, Tesco, Sainsburys and dovesfarm.co.uk 

Mincepie and Custard Hand Pies
Makes 8

Spelt Flaky Pastry 
300g Doves Farm Organic White Spelt Flour
2 tbsp caster sugar
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
250g unsalted butter, diced and chilled 
125ml ice cold water

Custard
150ml whole milk
15g cornflour
50g caster sugar
1 large egg
Pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
2 tbsp rum, brandy or amaretto

Filling
350g mincemeat

To make the pie dough place the flour into a large bowl and mix together with the salt and sugar. The sugar is optional but it helps promote browning in the dough and helps it have flavour of its own so I tend to use it regardless of whether I am making a sweet or savoury pie, simply reducing the sugar a little if making a savoury pie. 

Add the butter and press the pieces into flat pieces, rubbing into the flour just a little but keeping the butter in nice big flat flakes. Make a well in the middle of flour mixture and pour in the water. Toss the flour mixture and water together and then use your hands to briefly bring the dough together. Don’t take too long on this action as you don’t want to warm the butter, it needs to stay as cold as possible. 

At this stage if the butter is still feeling firm we carry on with the next step otherwise wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 15 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface roll out the pastry into a long rectangle about 3-4mm thick (the exact dimensions of the rectangle don’t matter we just want to roll out the pastry and flatten out those pieces of butter). Roll up the rectangle into a big sausage, press flat and then cut into two pieces, wrapping each in clingfilm and refrigerating for at least an hour before using, but preferably overnight. 

For the custard place the milk and half of the sugar into small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Meanwhile whisk together the cornstarch and remaining sugar. Add the egg and salt and whisk together until smooth and slightly lightened. Pour over the simmering milk, whisking as you pour to prevent curdling. Pour this custard back into the saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the custard has thickened. Scrape the custard into a small bowl and stir in the butter and rum until smooth and combined. Press a sheet of clingfilm onto the surface of the custard and refrigerate until needed. 

Preheat the oven to 200C (180C Fan)

To assemble roll out one of the pieces of dough into a rectangle that is a little larger than 25cm x 30cm and cut out 8 rectangles 7.5 x 12.5 cm, placing the pieces of pastry onto a parchment lined baking tray. Place a couple teaspoons of mincemeat and the same of custard onto each rectangle. Roll out the second piece of pastry as before cutting into the same sized rectangles. Brush the border of each assembled hand pie with a little beaten egg and seal with a second rectangle of pastry, using a sharp knife to cut a couple of vent holes. Brush the hand pies with beaten egg and sprinkle with demerara or granulated sugar. Chill the assembled hand pies for 30 minutes. 

Bake the hand pies in the preheated oven for about 20 or until the pastry is golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. These are best either served at room temperature or served still warm.

Kept in sealed container these will keep happily for 2-3 days but of course will be best on the day they are baked. You can serve these as is or if you want a little extra decoration you can make a simple icing sugar glaze with milk and a little vanilla and pipe or drizzle it over the cooled pastries

Mince Pies

It is finally December so I am letting the grinch have his happy ending and slowly getting into the festive spirit. I have been working on Christmas for probably half of this year, imagine pretending it is Christmas for photoshoots in the middle of summer, or writing recipes for Christmas leftovers when everyone else is sunning themselves on a beach somewhere. To some people that sounds like heaven but I like to keep the holidays special, celebrating Christmas even a day before December the 1st just seems wrong. This recipe might seem familiar to some of you, those who have been reading The Boy Who Bakes for years, because I first posted it way back in 2011, unfortunately when I moved my site over to the new design my hosting company deleted my entire blog and with it all the recipes So to make friends and influence people, here is that recipe.

No apologies but this recipe is not the most classic version mince pie, actually its basically the gilded lily of mince pies. Traditionally made with a simple shortcrust pastry I use a sweet pastry, rich with vanilla beans, and as buttery as can be. The filling might be a traditional mincemeat but lurking underneath that dried fruit is a little nugget of almond paste, which just makes a rich tart that bit richer, and trust me it’s delicious! My family have been making a version of these pies for years, since I was little, and in my eyes they're hard to beat. 

If you want to make a big batch of these, the great news is that they freeze wonderfully. Simply bake and cool fully before freezing on a parchment lined tray until solid, then bagging or boxing up (done this way they shouldn't freeze together as a block). Made at the start of the month you can have warm mince pies whenever you want through the christmas season.

Mince Pies
Makes 15-20

Filling
600g Mincemeat, shop bought or homemade
200g marzipan or almond paste, shop bought or homemade
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Sweet Pastry
1 vanilla pod
400g plain flour
35g ground almonds
75g icing sugar
pinch of salt
250g unsalted butter, diced and chilled
2 large egg yolks
approx. 1 tbsp ice cold water

To make the pastry cut the vanilla pod in half through the middle and scrape out the seeds. Add to the bowl of a food processor along with the flour, almonds, icing sugar and salt. Pulse a handful of times until everything is mixed evenly. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolks and the water and pulse briefly just to distribute, but stopping well before the dough comes together as a ball (the finished texture should be crumbly). Tip the dough out onto the work surface and use your hands to bring together into a uniform dough. Divide the dough into two batches, flatten into discs and wrap in clingfilm, refrigerating for at least an hour or until firm. 

Roll out a piece of the dough on a lightly floured worksurface, rolling to about 3mm thick. Use an 8cm round cookie cutter to cut out as many discs as you can, setting the trimmings aside. Use the pastry discs to carefully line the holes of two 12xhole bun trays. Repeat with the second piece of dough, cutting out 6cm lids. Briefly knead the scraps of dough back together and re-roll cutting out extra discs for more pies. Take the almond paste and roll into small balls, pressing into flat discs and pacing into the base of each pie. Fill each pie level with mincemeat, don't overfill as the pies have a tendency to leak and glue themselves to the tins if you do. Dip your finger in the egg and run around the edge of each mince pie and top with a lid, pressing gently together to seal. Use a knife or a fork to press a couple holes into the lids and finally brush the lids with the remaining egg. Chill the pies for 20-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180C (160C fan). Once the pies are chilled bake for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is a golden brown. Allow to cool in the trays for 10 minutes before carefully lifting out and setting onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

Kept in a sealed container these will keep for a week.

Notes: 
You can use homemade mincemeat if you like or even just improve a shop bought version. I like to add some diced stem ginger to shop bought mince meat just to make it a little extra special. 

This recipes use a traditional shallow bun tin, if you use a muffin tin your pastry bases will need to be a little bigger so you will make less, around 15.