These mince pies are inspired by my friend Helen’s mother-in-law, who tops her mince pies with Viennese biscuit dough. They are divine! I thought I’d remove the need for a piping bag and add some heavenly Christmas flavours of orange, nutmeg and cinnamon to make these truly special. Don’t forget you can add your favourite tipple to the mincemeat. Brandy is traditional but Amaretto, ginger wine and even Baileys are all delicious. Makes 24.
Ingredients:
Pastry
– 250g plain flour
– 50g icing sugar
– 125g room temperature butter
– zest of one orange
– 1 large egg
Filling
– 411g jar of mincemeat
– 15mls of your favourite tipple (optional)
Biscuit dough
– 120g soft butter
– 30g icing sugar
– 100g plain flour
– 20g cornflour
– Pinch of cinnamon
– Grating of fresh nutmeg
Pop the flour and icing sugar into your stand mixer and give it a quick mix with the flatbeater. Add the butter and orange zest and mix until it looks like fine breadcrumbs. (Can obviously rub in with hands too.)
Add the egg, mix in short spurts until the pastry dough comes together into a lump. (Use a blunt knife for this stage if making pastry by hand.) Cover in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes. In the meantime mix the alcohol and the mincemeat in a bowl and make the biscuit dough. Here’s a pic of my little helper. Gratuitous shot of blond toddler alert:
To make the dough mix the very soft butter with the icing sugar in your mixer with the flat beater. Mix until really light and fluffy – about 4 minutes. Then add all of the other biscuit dough ingredients and mix again until combined and fluffy.
Wrap the dough in clingfilm and pop in the fridge. (You can make the biscuit dough with a wooden spoon and sheer willpower if you prefer.)
Roll the pastry onto a floured work surface to about 3mm thick and cut rounds out using a pastry cutter. Pop into your non-stick bun tray then place a teaspoon of the mincemeat into each pastry case.
Roll the biscuit dough to about 1cm thick on a floured surface and cut triangles using a sharp knife. (You can use a mini star cutter or other festive shaped cutter if you have one handy…) If the knife sticks dip in flour between cuts.
Then place on top of the mincemeat and pop the whole tray in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C/Gas 4 for about 15 – 20 minutes until just starting to brown at the edges.
Eat within 3 days or freeze and use within a month. Defrost at room temperature.
Get the monthly newsletter...
and subscribe to get all recipes straight to your inbox!
Holly Bell 
Just about to try this, thanks Holly they look lovely. Will let you know how I got on
Please do! xx
When making my mince pies I mix some caster sugar in with some Philly and plop a teaspoon of that on top of the mincemeat before putting the lid on – truly delicious! I also make my pastry with orange rind and use the juice of the orange to bring the pastry together rather than water. Very festive.
I remember reading about the orange juice trick in How to Be a Domestic Goddess – such a lovely idea and I am sure tastes and smells amazing! Love the cream cheese idea too. Will have to five it a try. Yum! x
Made these for the church Christmas fair, they went down a treat and tasted absolutely gorgeous!!
Oh I am pleased! Hurrah. xxx
Yum… lovin the biscuit top :)
It’s fab isn’t it! Thank goodness for Helen’s mother in law and her amazing idea! x
I like the way you suggest that people might have a choice over whether they make the pastry by hand – many of us can’t afford a stand mixer so have to do these things by hand/sheer willpower!
Lovely-looking recipe though – keep up the good work!
Hi Keeley, this blog seems to be attracting a lot of comments like yours lately. It wasn’t meant to be a comment on the amount of money people have. This isn’t a blog about that. It was more a comment that people make pastry in lots of ways but I always get asked for stand mixer instructions as they’re so different. It’s much easier to over work the mixture basically. You can also make the pastry in a food processor (mine was a whopping £20 on offer at Argos!) or you could buy it if you preferred. For years I didn’t have the money for a stand mixer or in fact the space in my house to store it so I understand that everyone has a different budget. Different strokes, different folks.
I make my pastry and Viennese mix in a cheap food processor, and it works just fine as you say Holly! I dream of owning a Kitchen Aid< and drool over them when I see them in the shops! It will be the first thing I buy if ever I win big on the Lotto!! But until then my trusty food processor will do just fine! (mine cost me £5 in cash, plus some Clubcard vouchers, from Tesco direct! :-) )
Vouchers rock! I am the voucher queen and carry them around with me at all times! xx
where did you get the mince pie tin x
I think it’s Nordic Ware and I have no idea where from as bought it years ago. xx
Last year I did mince springrolls, the year before that I did mince doughnuts that i baked in the oven, instead of mince pies! They both went down an absolute treat!! Yours do look very cute though! :-D
Not the secret Viennese topping? I understand it’s a long held family recipe. Never mind I will exercise my muscles on making your version!
Yes! The very one. Though this is my version as the recipe is too secret to be passed on to non blood relations! x