Recipe: Puff Pastry Custard Mince Pies

INGREDIENTS

320g ready rolled puff pastry*

100g ready custard

20g ground almonds

100g mincemeat*

1 egg, lightly beaten

icing sugar to dust

*PUFF PASTRY

300g plain flour

pinch of salt

50g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes

120g unsalted butter, frozen

water to bind

*MINCEMEAT

Mincemeat is a combination of dried fruits, citrus fruits, nuts, spices, suet and alcohol. You can buy them in jars or make them at home. To make it at home all you need is some raisins, currants, some chopped mixed peel, an apple grated, some lemon juice, mixed spiced, brown sugar and some brandy. You can also ad dried cherries and dried figs if you like.

200g raisins

300g currants

juice of 1/2 lemon

200g dark brown sugar

1 tart apple, peeled and grated

1 tsp all spice

80ml brandy

Put everything in a bowl and mix. Store in a jar in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. Use it to fill pies and tarts.

Allergens are marked in bold

Preheat the oven to 180° C CircoTherm®. Unroll the puff pastry on a lightly floured surface and using an 8 cm round cookie cutter cut out 8 circles. Use a cupcake tin tray and place each circle in one of the sections.

In a bowl mix the custard and almonds and put 1 tsp of this mixture into each circle. Now put 1 tsp of the mincemeat on top of the custard.

Cut out 8 stars out of the left over pastry and place it on top of the mincemeat. Brush it gently with some egg and bake for 25-30 minutes until nicely golden.

Let it rest in the tin for few minutes until slightly cooled down. Dust with some icing sugar and serve.

In a bowl mix the flour and salt and add the small cubes of butter and rub it into the flour until you get breadcrumb texture. Now slowly add the water so you have not too soft a dough. Knead it for 2 minutes and leave it aside covered for 15 mins.

Now roll the dough into a rectangle, roughly 30 x 20 cm. Grate ½ of the frozen butter over the bottom 2/3 rd of the rectangle. Now fold the top 1/3 rd over the butter and fold the bottom on top of that, like an envelope.

Turn the folded dough to 90 degrees and roll it again into a 30 x 20 cm and grate the other half of the butter the same way as before and fold over. Cover this with cling film and let it rest in the fridge for 30 mins.

Repeat the folding process one more time, cover the dough and let it rest in the fridge for another 30 mins.

Use this dough to make the mince pies. Roll it out on a lightly floured surface to 2-3 mm and follow the above recipe.