Mini Jam Tarts with Homemade Strawberry Jam

I have to say, I find it quite surprising that this blog is nearly 4 years old.  I started it back in 2012 when I was home alone with very little to do.  It's grown a fair bit since then and so have I.  Jam tarts was one of the earliest things I attempted when I started.  Egged on my nostalgia after visiting my family I had a go at recreating a favourite of my Dad's.  Whilst the final product wasn't too bad, the tarts were more like Jammie Dodgers because I had them in the oven half an hour longer than I was supposed to (the pastry just would not change colour!!).   4 years later I decided to make them again.  I've gained quite a bit of experience by this point so it shouldn't be too hard.  In fact, I needed to give myself an additional challenge.  Not only was I going to make jam tarts, I was also going to make the jam to go in them!

I've never made jam before but have wanted to try it.  The thought of all that boiling sugar makes me a little nervous though.  But I decided, if I make a small batch that's not too scary.  It can't be too hard.  The Hubby's sister makes lovely jam after all.  I'm sure I can so the same.  Turns out, I can (thankfully).  Finding a recipe was easy enough (good old Nigella) and it was a lovely simple one too.  No worrying about sugar thermometers.  All you needed for testing was a plate that's been in the deep freeze.  I was a little concerned that I wouldn't find preserving sugar and initially grabbed jam sugar, but turns out even the tiny village supermarket sold it so I got that too.  Of course, it figures that I chose to use a fruit that is low in pectin and therefore not the easiest to make jam with.  However, lemon juice was going to provide the required pectin so once I had my fruit I was all set.  

The jam was the easiest part of the bake.  It really is a 'put-everything-in-the-pan' kind of recipe.  I used my biggest saucepan (3L) because I wanted to make sure it had enough space to boil.  I did also stick in my sugar thermometer so I had a second reference for 'done-ness' to go along with the saucer.  After about an hour on Friday I had a delicious jar of jam that I made all by myself.  I was very pleased.

But then came the tarts.  Oh the tarts.  I thought they would be so easy.  Make shortcrust pastry, fill with jam, bake.  I even got some Flower Cutters to make little flower tarts, inspired by images I'd seen on Pinterest..  I had...issues with my first batch that I made Saturday.  There was jam everywhere.  I admit, I read the recipe and thought '6 tbsp of jam doesn't seem like a lot for even large jam tarts' so I disregarded it completely.  I filled my pastry flower cups 2/3 full and popped them in the oven.  When I pulled them back out again, the jam had erupted up and over the sides and then down underneath the pastry.  They were not pretty.  They did still taste good so we've been eating them anyway but they weren't blog worthy.  Luckily I had enough jam left over for a do-over on Sunday.

So Sunday came and I whipped up a new batch of pastry.  I made sure to roll it thinner this time because after it had baked last time it puffed out quite a bit.  I then put a tiny amount of jam in each one.  1/2 tsp, which barely covered the base.  Turns out this is plenty though because when this batch came out the oven the jam had risen up (with some spilling over) and the pastry had shrunk.  Much prettier.  The ratio of jam to pastry when we ate it was also much more appealing and manageable.

All in all, I was quite pleased, particularly with my jam.  It all got used up over the weekend between making tarts and being used on scones.  It's something I hope to make more of in the future.  As for the tarts, now I have a better idea of how all the parts work (seriously, such a pastry noob) they're actually pretty easy and as delicious as I remember from being a kid.  Definitely going to make these again (though I'm still making my way through the two batches I already made) and maybe I'll get to make them for my Dad next time I visit my family. 

Recipe:


Strawberry Jam - adapted from How To Be A Domestic Goddess  
Makes 400ml (which is more than enough for at least 2 batches of tarts)

• 335g/11.8oz strawberries (get slightly more as you'll be chopping tops of the strawberries)
• 350g/12oz preserving sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Put a saucer in the deep freeze before you start.
2. Put a clean 400ml jam jar or two 200ml jars into an oven on its lowest setting.
3. Cut the tops off the strawberries, chop into quarters and add them to a very large saucepan, along with the sugar and lemon juice.  Set over a low heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally.
4. Allow the mixture to boil for about 5 minutes.
5. Take your saucer out of the freezer.  Remove jam from heat and put a scant teaspoon of it onto the saucer.  Let it cool for a minute or so then push it with your finger.  If it wrinkles up, you're done.  Otherwise put the jam back on the heat for another minute before testing again.
6. Once jam is done, remove from heat and let sit for 20 minutes to cool before removing the jars from the oven and decanting the jam into them.  Seal and let cool completely. 

Jam Tarts - adapted from The Great British Book of Baking  
Makes 18-20 mini tarts

• 200g/7oz plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 125g/4.5oz unsalted butter   
• 2 tbsp ice cold water
• Jam  

1. Sieve the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl.
2. Dice up the butter and add rub into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Using a rounded knife, stir in the water until it forms into a firm ball of dough. (If the mixture remains dry and crumbly, add an additional teaspoon of water at a time).   
4. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 and grease a two 12 hole mini muffin pans (or use silicone ones like I did).
5.  Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is about 3mm thick.  Using a pastry cutter that is slightly bigger than the holes in your tin, cut out shapes (I used a flower cookie cutter for mine) and place one in each hole, pushing down gently so that it forms a cup.  Keep gathering up trimmings, rerolling and cutting until you have used up the pastry.
6. Put 1/2 tsp of jam into each pastry cup (that may not seem like much but trust me, it's plenty.  The jam expands and the pastry shrinks.  Any more and it will overflow).
7. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until pastry is a light, golden brown.
8. Allow to sit in the tins for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool.  Do not eat straight from the oven. The jam is HOT.  

Mini Caramel Apple Pies

I don't own a car.  I do have a license but have never been particularly fond of driving.  Being the anxious person that I am I am constantly worried that something will go wrong.  I also suck at multi-tasking so trying to drive panics me because I start to get confused.  The Hubby, on the other hand, is in the process of obtaining his license.  He is a good driver but hasn't managed to pass his test yet.  We've also never really needed a car.  It's an expense we can do without and it's easy for us to get about most places.  Of course, there are the odd times when a car would be useful, such as getting to and from work, going on trips to Ikea or for doing the weekly food shop.  It's not possible for us to carry our weekly food supplies back from the supermarket.  There is just a bit too much for the distance we have to travel (about a half hour walk).  But luckily we live in the modern age where you can get your food delivered right to your door.  

Why am I telling you this?  Well, when you shop online, you have to pick what you want and specify a quantity.  We have our favourites list which makes buying our regular groceries nice and simple.  However, we occasionally crave something different and therefore have to track it down with the search engine.  Last week, the Hubby put through the order for the shop.  I only went in to reschedule the delivery since we ended up going out on the Sunday to see The Force Awakens (which was really god, by the way).  His craving this week was for apples.  We get apples every week, but they're for me and they're red.  He doesn't really like red.  He prefers the tarter, green kind.  So he ordered 5.  5 bags that is.  Neither of us was aware until the shopping was delivered and we received a carrier bag of 5 bags of Granny Smiths - around 25 apples.  Well, I just found it funny to be honest.  The Hubby was confused and embarrassed.  I said it was fine because now we knew what I would be baking with next!

So that's how we ended up here.  I had a lot of apples and needed to make something with them.  I decided I wanted to do something with pastry because it's one of those areas I'm still a bit lacking in.  Besides, apples in pastry are quite a classic and much loved dessert.  After perusing ideas on Pinterest, I settled on making mini apple pies, with the added decadence of caramel.  If I'd had any rock or sea salt kicking about I might have turned that into salted caramel but alas, not this time.  Maybe in the future.

I ended up making a couple of tweaks due to not having everything I needed.  Namely, I used just butter, rather than butter and shortening.  I had shortening in the fridge but it was past the use by date and I couldn't decide if it had gone rancid or not since I didn't know what that would look or smell like.  I decided not to risk it in the end.  I also used orange juice concentrate in place of lemon juice because I had used up all my lemons.  The change of juice didn't seem to affect things.  As for the pastry, I knew not using the shortening would change the texture somewhat and it wouldn't be as flaky but what you get with just butter is yummy anyway.

The tedious part of this was coring, peeling and chopping all the apples.  I think I used...about 7 apples.  That and making the lattice tops.  Otherwise this was a reasonably nice recipe to do.  Other than initially forgetting to give the pies an egg wash...  I took my pies to the regular Wednesday night tea with the in-laws (along with some home-made bread, but that's for another day).  They were a big hit (and go well with ice cream) and I ended up leaving most of them there.  The Hubby said to take 1 back for him and is now regretting that because he's eaten it and doesn't have any more!

There are still two bags of apples sitting in the kitchen but that's a more reasonable amount for the Hubby to munch his way through.  Anyway, that wraps up the last post of 2015.  I'm aiming to get back into baking more regularly next year as I only work part-time just now.  I acquired some new cook books I am looking forward to trying out!  So Happy Hogmanay everyone!  See you in 2016!   

Recipe - adapted from Mama's Gotta Bake

Makes about 9 muffin-sized pies

Pastry:

•  340g/12oz plain flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 200g/7oz butter (or 115g/4oz butter plus 85g/3oz vegetable shortening)
• 5-6 tbsp ice water

Filling: 

• 850g/1lb14oz tart apples (like Granny Smith)
• 70g/2.5oz brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 60g/2oz caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2.5 tsp cornflour
• 1 tsp orange juice 
• 9 tbsp Carnation caramel
• 1 beaten egg + 1 tbsp water

1. Start by making the pastry.  Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a large bowl.
2. Add the butter (or butter and shortening) quickly and rub into the flour until you have a mixture that resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add 2-3 tbsp of the water at a time and mix together with a fork to get a smooth dough.  
4. Tip dough out onto a floured surface and give it a quick knead before shaping it into a ball.
5. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
6. Meanwhile, make the filling.  Peel and core the apples and cut into pieces about 0.5cm/0.25inch thick.  They need to be able to fit inside the cups of the muffin trays.
7. Put the chopped apples in a large saucepan with the sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, cornflour and salt and mix together.  
8. Put the lid on the saucepan and cook the apples over a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 18 minutes.  By this point the apples should be nice and tender.
9. Remove the lid and cook for another 5 minutes until the liquid has thickened.  Then remove from the heat and stir in the orange juice.  Allow to cool to room temperature.
10. Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas Mark 7 and grease a 12 cavity muffin tin (I used silicone as it made getting the pies out much easier).
11. Roll out the dough on a floured surface to a thickness of 0.5cm/0.25inches.  Cut out circles of dough that are slightly bigger than the cavities in the muffin tins (I used a ramekin as a template) and gently fit them inside.  Make sure you have about  1/3 of the dough leftover for the tops.
12. Fill each pie base with a generous helping of the apple filling (it shrinks as it cooks) and top with a tablespoon of caramel.
13. Roll out some of the remaining dough so it is wide enough to make two pie tops and cut into strips.  Lay out three strips horizontally on the floured surface then cut three more strips in half.  Weave the cut strips with the uncut strips then cut out circles that are just the same size as the muffin cavities.
14. Fit the woven tops over the top of the pies.  Repeat until you have made enough lattice tops for each pie.
15. Press the edges of the tops down against the base with a fork then use a pastry brush to coat the tops with the beaten egg.  Sprinkle with sugar.
16. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, until the tops are golden and the mixture inside is bubbling.
17. Allow to rest in the tins for 5-10 minutes and then carefully remove (use a knife to run around the edges of the pies and use a spoon or fish slice to scoop pie out) and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Sausage and Spinach Quiche

We have been needing a new fridge/freezer for a while now.  The one we had was in the flat when we moved in 2.5 years ago and it was not in the best shape.  Water always collected in the bottom of the fridge and sometimes it would freeze there.  Not so great for the vegetables.  Water would always be on the back wall too and if anything was too far back on the shelves it would get wet.  Kinda gross, no?  Then there was the freezer.  It frosted up so badly and didn't seem to be properly sealed.  Things were either too frozen or not frozen enough.  We would have replaced it ages ago if we'd been able to afford it.  Now, with a combination of wedding gifts and a decent salary we have finally been able to do it!  You have no idea how excited we were.  The Hubby and I can get a bit like that whenever we get anything big and new for our home.  We'll be so giddy when we can actually afford to put a deposit down on a house.

Anyway, the point of that little bit of exposition is that we had to clear out the old fridge/freezer the day before the new one came so it could be taken away.  To avoid having too much food to pack into a cool bag to go into the Hubby's Grandma's chest freezer, I thought I would use some of the things we had to make something.  And that something was a quiche.

What's this?  I hardly ever go savoury.  We all know I have a ridiculous sweet tooth (the number of fillings I have can testify to it).  And pastry?  I have a dislike of pastry.  Not when it comes to quiche though.  I'm actually rather fond of quiche, pastry and all, so I thought now was as good a time as any to try making one.  It would make for a nice lunch if it turned out well.  

My choice of filling was obviously influenced by what was in my freezer.  However, I decided regular old pork sausage was a little dull so opted to make them into Italian sausage.  This was something I had done a few weeks previously when making meatballs (and trying out my slow cooker for the first time).  The recipe I had been using then called for Italian sausage but I was unable to get a hold of it.  Luckily, in the vast pool of knowledge that is the internet, I stumbled across a DIY recipe for it over on Back to her Roots.  So easy to do and very delicious.  So I knew I wanted that in my quiche.  Also I love frozen spinach.  I am very picky about my veggies, disliking pretty much all of them.  Yet I know I need to eat them because they are good for me so I try to 'hide' them in my food like you would with a small child.  Chopped frozen spinach is great for this.  I can see it obviously, but there is no noticeable taste.  I mix it in to quite a few of my dinners to get some greens in me.  There are shallots in this quiche too, for a little extra veggie goodness.  I am very fond of shallots, especially as they are a good size and I can use just a couple to add some extra yummy flavour to a meal when a whole onion would be far too much.  Another note I will add is that there is no cream in this quiche.  Mainly because I forgot to buy any and didn't feel like going out to get some.  So it's just milk.  It worked perfectly well as a substitute.  

This quiche is delicious.  I was so pleased with how it turned out, given it was my first try and I was making bits of it up, and how yummy I found it to be.  I thoroughly enjoyed having it for my lunch.  Unfortunately it was too much for me to finish by myself (the Hubby is vegetarian) and some of it went to waste.  Next time I'll be sure to freeze some portions.  That was just a bit hard to do when we were waiting on a new freezer to be delivered this time!

Recipe - inspired by James Martin via BBC Food

Pastry:

• 170g/60z plain flour
• 75g/2.75oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• Cold water

Filling:

• 300g/10.5oz pork sausage (about 6 sausages)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Knorr All Purpose Savoury seasoning (optional)
• 1 clove garlic
• 85g/3oz chopped shallots
• 115g/4oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
• 100g/3.5oz cheddar cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 200ml/7fl.oz milk
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Parmesan for sprinkling

1. Start by making the pastry.  Sift the flour into a bowl.
2. Add the butter in pieces to the flour and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add enough cold water to the crumbs to bring them together into a firm dough.  Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Grease an 23cm/9inch loose-bottomed tart tin with butter.
5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line the prepared tin.  Do not trim off the edges and place in the fridge to chill again (about 20 minutes).  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
6. To make the filling, start by removing the sausage meat from its lining and putting it into a large bowl. 
7. Add the fennel seeds, basil, oregano, garlic powder, rosemary, pepper and savoury seasoning (if using) and mix well to combine.
8. Cook the meat in a frying pan with a little oil over a medium heat until it has just started to brown.
9. Add the shallots and spinach and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.
10. Line the pastry base with greaseproof paper and fill with ceramic baking beads.  Bake the pastry case blind for 20 minutes.
11. Remove the beads and paper and bake for a further 5 minutes.
12. Grate the cheese and sprinkle over the base of the pastry.
13. Cover the cheese with the sausage filling, making sure to spread it evenly.
14. In a jug, combine the milk and eggs, season with a little salt and pepper and mix.
15. Pour into the pastry case until it is full. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
16. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until set.  Once removed from the oven, leave in the tin to allow it to cool and set further.
17. Once cool, remove from tin and serve.  Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.  Can also be frozen.

Apple and Cinnamon Turnovers

It is time for the Lady Behind the Curtain Dessert Challenge again and this month's ingredients were apple and cinnamon!

I decided I wanted to try something a bit different this time around.  I've used apples and cinnamon plenty of times before in cakes so I didn't really want to go that route.  This is meant to be a challenge after all.  So I decided to raid my books and see what I could find.

I admit, the first thing that did come to mind was apple strudel.  I knew the fiancé loved strudel and I've not made it before due to not really doing much with pastry in the past.  I even went and looked up how to do it, including how to do the pastry from scratch.  However it is rather complicated.  Strudel pastry is apparently very tricky to make and few people do it.  I saw them doing it on the Great British Bake Off last year and all that stretching looks scary!  Really, I just wouldn't have time, especially with this post-grad course and the fact that I already have an assignment to do which is due in next week.  So strudel was out but I was now determined to do something with pastry.  I needed to do something out of my comfort zone and working with pastry would definitely be that.  If I ever want a chance of getting on the GBBO, then I'll need to be able to bake all types of pastry.  It is probably the most used thing on that show.  It took some trawling, but I eventually stumbled on apple and cinnamon turnovers in the lovely baking book the fiancé had got me for Christmas but that I have so far not used.  

The turnovers themselves looked to be quite a simple recipe.  The challenge came from the pastry because I decided I was going to make my own.  This was my first attempt ever to make puff pastry!  Well, actually, it ended up being my first AND second.  My first try failed pretty quickly.  I brought it out of the fridge after its first resting period and went about rolling it into a rectangle, only to have all my butter start oozing out from every inch possible.  It just kept coming and coming and I ended up with a mush of butter and pastry.  Not good.  But at least it happened early and not an hour down the line.  So I started again.  I used butter straight from the fridge this time, rather than letting it soften first, and made sure it was really well sealed in its pastry envelope.  When it came to rolling out, there was still a little that managed to escape but it was nowhere near the amount of the first try.  After it had had a few rests and re-rolls it was less trouble.  I was quite pleased.

The book I was using was great.  It explains things rather neatly and all the recipes are quite short and to the point.  However, in the list of ingredients for the turnovers it said '3 apples'.  Just '3 apples'.  There was no indication as to size, weight or type.  So I guessed.  I got Bramley apples, since they are the standard cooking apple over here.  I also decided to just get 2 since they are rather big.  Turns out even that was way too much.  I only used about half the apple filling that I made.  Hence I'll be adjusting the ingredients in the write up.  I made sure to measure how much apple there was before and after making up the pastries, so you'll get a weight.

I cooked my turnovers in two batches.  The first batch I made came out really well.  The filling did leak slightly and the egg wash was a little patchy but overall I was happy.  There were no soggy bottoms!  Pretty good for a first attempt at puff pastry.  It's such a shame I burnt the second batch.  This is evidence that I should not multi-task.  Or at least, not do so in a room that isn't the kitchen or adjoining living room.  I have a tendency to forget about things if I leave the room.  I thought I was being productive when I decided to put away all the laundry and change the bed linen whilst the turnovers cooked.  But I forgot about them and lost track of time.  When I went back into the living room, I noted it was hot.  I then walked into the kitchen to open the window, wondered why the oven was on and then realised!  The poor things had been in half an hour longer than they should have been and were ruined.  I was so disappointed.  I cannot wait for my new oven timer to arrive.  Then even if I do forget by going out the room I'll still get a noisy reminder.

The ones that didn't burn apparently tasted yummy though.  The fiancé did think the pastry was a little thick but also said they tasted very like the strudels he would get at the market in Edinburgh at Christmas.  The cinnamon went really nicely with the apples and there were layers in my pastry!  I'll have to find time to make them again in the future, and not burn half the batch next time. 

Recipe - adapted from The Art of French Baking 
Makes 6 pastries


Puff Pastry:
This takes 2-3 hours to do since you have to roll out, fold and rest the pastry several times in order to get the layers in.

• 200g/7oz plan flour, plus extra for dusting
• Pinch of salt
• 100ml/3.5fl.oz ice-cold water
• 100g/3.5fl.oz butter

1. Sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the salt.
2. Add most of the water and mix in until you get a smooth and elastic dough.  Add more water if necessary.
3. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll out the dough into a square that is about 1.5cm/0.75inch thick.
4. Cut the butter into cubes and place into the centre of the pastry square.
5. Fold the corners over into the centre so the butter is completely enclosed within a pastry envelope.  Make sure there are no gaps.
6. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
7. Remove from the fridge and roll out into a long rectangle that is 5mm/0.25inch thick.  Try not to let any butter escape from inside (don't panic if a little comes out though).
8. Fold the short ends of the rectangle so they overlap each other in the centre to make a rectangle with three layers.  Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
9. Repeat steps 7 and 8 at least seven more times.  You can do it more times if you want.  The more times you repeat the steps, the more layers your pastry should have.
10. Now the pastry is done so chill it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Apple and Cinnamon Turnovers:

• 170g/6oz apple (about 1 large Bramley apple)
• 60g/2oz caster sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 400g/14oz puff pastry
• 1 egg yolk 
• Water

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas Mark 7 and grease two baking trays with butter.
2. Peel and core the apple and then cut it into 1cm/0.5inch cubes.  Put in a medium bowl.
3. Add the cinnamon and 2 tablespoons of the caster sugar to the apple and stir to coat them.
4. Lightly dust a surface with flour and roll out the puff pastry as thinly as possible.  Ideally you want to be able to cut all your turnovers from this one sheet and not have to re-roll (though I didn't quite manage it).
5. Use a 12cm/5inch circle cookie cutter, or trace around a bowl with a similar diameter, and cut out six circles of pastry.  If you want, you can also cut small, decorative shapes out of the leftovers (I made a heart for each one).
6. Place a heaped tablespoon of the spiced apple on top of each circle, ever so slightly off centre.
7. Moisten the edges of the pastry with water, fold in half to make a crescent shape and press the edges together to seal them.  If it tears in places, patch the gaps with leftover pastry.  If you made decorations then attach them to the crescents with water.  Place the pastries on the trays.
8. Beat the egg yolk and then brush the pastries with it to glaze them.
9. Sprinkle over the remaining sugar.
10. Bake for 30 minutes.

Mince Pies with Homemade Mincemeat

I have never had mince pies in my house at Christmas.  Well, I don't think I have.  They don't ring any bells.  They may have been at extended family Christmas parties but for dinners at home, they weren't there.  I don't think they held any appeal for my family.  I would have rejected them outright since I don't really like pastry.  And I admit, for the longest time I thought they contained meat and found that weird as they were a dessert.  Obviously I know that's not the case now but they still don't appeal to me.  I'm terribly picky.

However, mince pies do seem to be a traditional addition to most people's Christmas dinners so I thought I would try and make some for the one I was attending.  It was an excuse to try working with pastry after all.  Although in the end I picked a pastry that was more like shortbread than actual pastry since it saved a lot of time.  I also decided to challenge myself by making my own mincemeat, which really wasn't that hard after all, even though I made a mistake and missed out some of the ingredients in the first stage.  Namely the spices.  I'd gotten confused by the change in text colour on the screen.  Silly me needs to read things better.  There were also no sultanas because the fiancé didn't pick them up from the shop, even though they were on the list, and they ended up being non-alcoholic.  I don't drink and as such don't keep alcohol in my house.  The recipe called for brandy, which I did consider buying but it was all too expensive to justify buying for one recipe.  So after some research I substituted the brandy with apple juice.  No one seemed to notice.

In fact, the mince pies went down really well.  People liked the ratio of pastry to mincemeat, saying it was less stodgy than shop bought pies.  They also liked the taste of the mincemeat.  I was so pleased.  And since I had mincemeat left over, I made more for the New Years party today.  They went down well there too.

Since I made these twice, I experimented with how I made the pastry part of pies.  In the recipe, it says to pull parts off by hand the size of a walnut and flatten it into a circle for the base, and then do the same with a slightly smaller piece for the top.  This worked perfectly fine and made great pies.  But they did look a little messy.  So on my second go, I used two different sized cookie cutters to make the two pieces for each pie.  Equally effective, though I got a more equal amount of pastry per pie and the overall appearance of the pies was much better.  Hence I'll be putting that method in the recipe write-up.

Recipe - makes about 48 mince pies

  

You need to make the mincemeat at least the day before you want to make the pies since it needs to rest for a few hours, be cooked for three hours and allowed to cool again.

Mincemeat - adapted from Delia Online

• 225g/8oz Bramley apples, cored
• 110g/4oz shredded suet (I used vegetable suet)
• 175g/6oz raisins
• 110g/4oz sultanas
• 110g/4oz currants
• 110g/4oz mixed candied peel
• 175g/6oz dark brown sugar
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 25g/1oz flaked almonds
• 2 tsp ground mixed spice
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 3 tbsp apple juice (or brandy if you prefer) 

1. Chop the apples into small pieces.
2. Combine all the ingredients except the apple juice (or brandy) in a heat safe bowl and mix together thoroughly.
3. Cover the bowl in a clean cloth and leave in a cool place for 12 hours or overnight to let the flavours mingle together.
4. Preheat the oven to 125°C/225°F/Gas Mark 1/4.
5. Once hot enough, cover the bowl of ingredients with tin foil and place inside the oven.  Leave to cook for 3 hours.
6. Remove from the oven and place to one side to cool.  Stir the mixture from time to time as it does so.
7. When the mincemeat is cold, add the apple juice (or brandy) and mix well.
8. If you are not going to use all the mincemeat, store it in a sterilised jar with a wax paper sheet between the mince and the jar lid.

Pies - adapted from BBC Good Food 

• 450g/16oz cold butter
• 700g/24oz plain flour
• 200g/7oz caster sugar 
• Pinch of salt
• 1.35kg/3lb mincemeat
• 1 egg
• Icing sugar , to dust 

1. If planning to use the pastry straight away, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6 and grease four 12 hole patty tins (unless you're like me who only owns 1 and therefore has to do it in batches).
2. Cut the butter into cubes, or scoop out in small spoonfuls and place in a large bowl with the flour.
3. Rub the butter and flour together until you get a mixture resembling breadcrumbs.
4. Stir in the sugar and salt and then bring the dough together into a ball.  Do not add any liquid.  It may take some time but it will come together.
5. Knead the dough for a couple of minutes.
6. If saving pastry for later, wrap in clingfilm and place in the fridge to chill.
7. Roll pastry out on a lightly floured surface until it is 0.5cm/0.25inches thick and use a 6.5cm/2.5inch pastry cutter to cut circles out.  Place each circle in one hole of the patty tin.
8. Spoon a heaped teaspoonful of mincemeat into the centre of each pie.
9. Now use a 5.5cm/2inch cutter to cut out circles for the pie tops.
10. Place the pie tops over the mincemeat and gently press down all around the edges to seal the pies.
11. Beat the egg in a small bowl and use a pastry brush to cover the pie tops in an egg wash.
12. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
13. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
14. Dust lightly with icing sugar.