The best mince pie pastry ever?

[researcher]

My elderly neighbour has at last given me her recipe for her mince pies. Do try it, I promise you will be surprised by how excellent it is. I will reproduce it exactly as she taught me yesterday.

Yield - 3 dozen pies.

1 lb Self raising Flour
8 oz Trex
4 oz caster sugar
1 egg
little water

2 jars mincemeat.

Rub fat into flour and sugar until resembling fine breadcrumbs. Lightly beat the egg, and mix in with a knife adding a little water. Resulting paste should be smooth and soft and very pliable. No need to rest in fridge.

Roll out thinly, you will need plenty of flour as the pastry is quite sticky - this is correct as it will 'thicken' slightly when cooking.

Line your mince pie tins with the pastry (greased with trex), we used a pallett knife and place a spoonful of mince in each, place on pastry tops and seal gently with finger tips (no added liquid necessary). Be careful, this pastry is soft to work with.

Cook at appx 180/90c until lightly golden. (Appx 20 - 25 mins, but will depend on your oven).

Leave pies in tins to cool for a few minutes and then place a wire rack on top and tip over - tap the bottoms of each pie and they will slip out. (Don't attempt to hook out with a knife - they will break!) Then you can turn them up the right way to cool.

Sprinkle with a little sugar if preferred.

This pasty will be crisp, yet crumbly - keeps and freezes exceptionally well and her pies are legendary - she is asked to make 100's each year.

Happy eating

This Forum Tip was included in MoneySavingExpert’s weekly email

Don't miss out on new deals, loopholes, and vouchers

• FAQs
• Privacy Policy
• Past Emails
• Unsubscribe

[oldMcDonald]

What is Trex? Never heard of it before and google just gave me loads of info on big scarey dinosaurs!

Pretty sure it's not that?

[researcher]

It's a vegetable fat (white) - you'll find it in the cold cabinet near to the butters

[oldMcDonald]

Thanks. Will give this a try, have only made pastry once before and it was a disaster so hopefully I can do better with this!

[janetmw]

All about TREX here

Janet

[earthmother]

Thanks for this - was given a very posh jar of mincemeat and didn't want to waste it on my normal pastry - will give this one a go instead.

[researcher]

Let me know how you all get on.

I had a couple for 11's - but I have managed to freeze 18.

[Alfietinker]

Do you have to use Trex or can I use a mixture of butter/lard or all butter? Does everything have to be cold like nomal pastry or is this fool proof? I'm not very good with pastry.

[echo]

alfietinker i've a recipe taken from Nigella's book and she uses same amount of cold unsalted butter as the trex.think i'd stick with this recipe unless somebody out there has experimented.i've used her recipe before and it was ok.by using the trex it gives the pastry a crispyness.tis best if the pastry is cold ( i shove mine in the fridge) and if you have cool hands-never a prob with me.

researcher how is this pastry to roll out? i ask cos sometimes i use an ordinary recipe ( half marg/half lard) but change the quantities slightly and add an egg.bloody awful to roll out when i've added an egg.

[loren83]

I've never made pastry before, do you think I'd be ok with this? We've already gone through dozens of mince pies in our house so far this year.

Do you need individual tins like you get in the ready made packets?

[earthmother]

Originally Posted by loren83

I've never made pastry before, do you think I'd be ok with this? We've already gone through dozens of mince pies in our house so far this year.

Do you need individual tins like you get in the ready made packets?

I find that pastry is easy so long as it doesn't get too warm - I find it much easier than cake (sponges are the bane of my life)

You want a fairy cake/bun tray - just look in the cooking section of somewhere like Wilkinsons - it's the one with about a dozen little cups in the one tray - should only be a couple of pounds.



I had a lovely old one a few years back where the cups were fluted, so the pastry was a bit fancier when you turned it out - got lost in a move though - never found similar since

[aurora borealis]

I have to say that DD3, aged 15, makes the best pastry in the world!
I don't know where she gets that talent from, because it isn't me

I'll ask her how she does it when she gets home.

[aurora borealis]

As promised and in her words:

300 grams plain flour
150 grams butter
pinch salt

break marble sized chunks of butter into the flour
with fingertips, rub butter into flour
... really thoroughly - like small breadcrumbs (it feels really soft)
pour very cold water in a splash at at time and scrunch the mix until it is all joined together.

It's the breadcrumb part that is most important.

[oldMcDonald]

Originally Posted by aurora borealis

As promised and in her words:

300 grams plain flour
150 grams butter
pinch salt

break marble sized chunks of butter into the flour
with fingertips, rub butter into flour
... really thoroughly - like small breadcrumbs (it feels really soft)
pour very cold water in a splash at at time and scrunch the mix until it is all joined together.

It's the breadcrumb part that is most important.

This would be a savoury pastry? What is savoury like with sweet food normally? As I said above, I've only made pastry once and it was awful! It was for an apple pie and it had no sugar in it - everyone was expecting the pastry to be sweet and I think they were a bit shocked (thats my excuse for how bad it was anyway!!)

Just wondering if it is usual to use sweet or savoury pastry when making fruit / mince pies - really trying to get to grips with cooking from scratch!

lisa

[aurora borealis]

She says that if you dust it with sugar then it will be sweet

I prefer savoury pastry with sweet myself.

[Sadierhianne]

I made my own mincemeat last year which was lovely - devine, BUT the pastry that i made was awful a real let down so i will try that recipe - thank you!! I have a few jars left over for mince pies this year so hopefully they will be good.

S

[janb5]

This is fab, have used it for years. Very reliable too.

Mincemeat pies

Makes 2 dozen

10 oz plain flour
1 oz ground almonds
6 oz butter
3 oz caster sugar
rind of 1/2 lemon
1 egg yolk
3 tablespoons milk

Filling

1 lb mincemeat
1- 2 tablespoons brandy

icing sugar

Time taken 1 hour Can be made in advance

Sift the flour in a mixing basinn and add the ground almonds. Add the butter, cut into small pieces and rub into the mixture evenly. Add the sugar and the grated lemon rind. Lightly mix the egg yolk and milk and stir into the dry ingredients. Mix to a fairly firm dough, turn out onto a lightly floured board and knead until smooth. Chill for 30 mins before using.

Roll the pastry out onto a lightly floured surface and using a floured plain or fluted cutter, stamp out 48 circles of pastry.

Place 24 in lightly greased tins- do in batches if necessary. This dough is so well behaved that you can re- roll pieces of dough.. Mix the mincemeat with the brandy and place a teaspoonful of the mixture in the centre of each pastry circle. take care not to overfill the pies. Damp the edges of the pastry and cover each one with a pastry top. Seal the edges and then, using scissors snip 2 slits in the top of each. Place in the centre of a hot oven(400 degF,200 deg C or Gas 6 ) and bake for 15- 20 mins or until golden brown.

Dust with icing sugar and serve hot with brandy butter or cream.

Enjoy!

[leonie]

I've made my pastry using the op's recipe for years, the only difference being that I use home made butter. It can be a real buggar to roll out but the pastry is devine and I get compliments every year.

I also make Delia's mincemeat and mince pies never last very long in our house!

[researcher]

Originally Posted by echo

researcher how is this pastry to roll out? i ask cos sometimes i use an ordinary recipe ( half marg/half lard) but change the quantities slightly and add an egg.bloody awful to roll out when i've added an egg.

You need to flour it regularly, and the board - but it can be re-rolled time and again - it it gets dry add a touch more water (or just wet hands if its for the last little bit) - knead in and use as before.

[piratess]

Ive got mince pies in the oven as im typing, i followed the OPs recipe for pastry and umm ive only ended up with 2 dozen the pastry was very thin but when i was rolling out it kept splitting! ..
This is my first attempt at pastry making so umm they will probably be a disaster .. oh well 10 more mins to wait !
i didnt know the temp either so they are in on a Gas 6 .. is this correct ???