Mince Pies with Brandy Cream

This recipe is one that I had to look for online, because I didn’t have the first idea of where to start on my own. Being the avid Great British Baking Show fan that I am, I naturally sought out Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood’s recipes first. Prue’s mince pies have a beautiful lattice on the top of them that looks delicate and crumbly, and I’m sure would no doubt be delicious, but I’m partial to a more contained mince pie.

Paul Hollywood’s mince pies, on the other hand, are fully contained with a proper top on them, which is what I was hoping to find. The recipe you’ll find below is an adaptation on this recipe by Paul Hollywood. In particular, my recipe calls for organic vegetable shortening (make sure to find one with NO hydrogenated oils in it) in place of butter so that the mincemeat flavors really stand out.

To begin, get out a large mixing bowl and combine the shortening and flour and rub together until they’ve combined and are nice and crumbly. Add the caster sugar and 1 egg and mix until combined. If you aren’t able to find caster sugar, since it’s rarely used outside of Europe, it’s easy to make your own by pulsing regular cane sugar in a food processor or by grinding it to a fine powder using a mortar and pestle.

Lightly flour your worktop and knead the dough by hand until the pastry begins to come together, being very careful not to overwork the dough or it won’t have that delicate crumble that we want to achieve. Once the dough is ready, wrap in saran wrap and put into the refrigerator to chill while you put together the filling.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the entire jar of mincemeat, the diced apples, zest, and the pieces of mandarin orange, and mix until thoroughly combined. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Roll out the dough to 3mm thick, or about the size of a typical men’s wedding band. You don’t want it too thin or the mincemeat filling won’t stay contained within the pie. On the other hand, if it’s too thick, it won’t cook properly and it will be a claggy pie without the right ratio of crust-to-filling.

Using a round cookie cutter with smooth edges about 6 inches in diameter, cut out 16 bases and tuck them into the wells of a muffin tin or tins. Put 1½ Tbsp mincemeat mixture into each. Brush the edge of each pie crust with a little beaten egg so that the tops will seal well to the sides of the crust.

Now, re-roll out the pastry to cut lids with a round cookie cutter with fluted edges about 2 1/2-3 inches in diameter and press them onto the pies. Make sure to press down firmly on the edges to seal them, and sprinkle the tops with the extra caster sugar.

Bake for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Remove from the oven and place the pan or pans on a trivet(s) to cool fully before releasing them from the muffin tins and dusting with a tad of powdered sugar.

Just before you’re ready to serve the mince pies, whip the heavy cream and powdered sugar on high until soft peaks form. Quickly fold in the brandy until combined, being careful not to be too vigorous or you will deflate the cream.

Once the mince pies are fully cooled, remove them from the muffin tin and dust them with a tad of powdered sugar before serving with a dollop brandy cream on top.