Homemade bakewell mince pies

The silly season is upon us again and no matter where you look something festive is going on. It’s the time of year for traditions and overindulging and these beautiful little mince pies have been one of our family traditions for years now. Filled with rich mincemeat and topped with crumbly, buttery, frangipane they are a great addition to any recipe book.

I do make my own mincemeat for these little beauties, as I think that they deserve the extra love and attention that comes from a good homemade mincemeat (I will be putting my recipe up for this later in the week). I also make my own shortcrust pastry for this but do not feel guilty for buying some as we all need shortcuts now and again. This recipe makes 24 really generously filled mince pies. Have a merry Christmas and happy new year!!!

500g shortcrust pastry

700g homemade mincemeat

200g ground almonds

200g sugar

200g soft butter

100 plain flour

4 eggs

75g flaked almonds

To start make the frangipane by placing the ground almonds, sugar, flour, butter and egg in a mixer and combine on a low speed until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Next divide the pastry into 24 equal pieces (about 25g each) and roll each into a ball and roll out.

Place the pastry into a non stick muffin tin (greased and floured) with a tsp of mincemeat in the bottom and a tbsp of frangipane on top. Trim the excess pastry from the edges and finish with a sprinkling of flaked almonds. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 150c for 35 minutes.

#christmas #mincepies #dessertt