Christmas Mini Mince Pies

I love a good mince pie, made with a buttery flaky pastry and lots of mincemeat inside. The filling can't have any peel, nuts of any description and definitely not a fresh cranberry in sight. My mince pie has to look home made too, I don't want it to look as though it came off a production line. The mincemeat must have lots of Brandy added to it - this is essential because I need to eat lots of mince pies in the run up to Christmas.

The mincemeat recipe is by Delia Smith and I make this every year without fail, I exclude the nuts and peel. The pastry recipe is from Women's Institute Complete Christmas.

Makes 18-20

225g plain flour, 115g butter, 50g lard, 25g icing sugar, 1 egg, 2 teaspoons iced water, 450g luxury mincemeat.

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Sift flour into a bowl and the butter and lard. Rub fat into flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in icing sugar and then the beaten egg and water. Bring together to form a smooth dough. Place in plastic bag and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
2. Roll out just over half the pastry to 3mm thickness and cut out circles large enough to fit the base of tart tins.
3. Fill with mincemeat.
4. Roll out the remaining pastry and cut out the tops. Brush the tops with water and place on top of the mincemeat, lightly press the tops onto the base pastry.
5. Bake in oven for 15-20 mins.
6. Cool in tin for a few minutes then transfer to wire rack to completely cold.
7. To serve dust with icing sugar.
8. The cooked and cooled mince pies can be frozen and defrost at room temperature.

Cherry Pies and Review: Chicago Metallic Bakeware

My pan from Chicago Metallic is part of their Speciality Bakeware range. I used mine to make these delicious individual cherry pies, the recipe is by Nigella Lawson from How to Eat. I'm a huge fan of the Chicago Metallic Speciality Bakeware range and own a few pieces, this new addition to my collection will serve me well, and I have a few recipes already lined up that I am really looking forward to making.

The good looking tin is non-stick, with separate disc inserts to help remove your sweet or savoury pies easily from the tin.

Supplied with the tin is a very useful two-sided pastry cutter which can be used to cut out pastry for the bases or to make a plain pastry lid. Turn the cutter over and make a cut-out pastry lid for sweet pies. The cut-outs can also be used to decorate pastry lids for either sweet or savoury pies. Individual tart cases can also be made in the tin.

Each pie cavity measures 11.2 x 11.2 x 1.5cm - the tin is well made, doesn't warp, gives even cooking, cleaning is minimal, dishwasher safe (but I personally think to look after any bakeware you should always handwash to keep them looking good), and a 25 year warranty.

This photograph shows even cooking of the cherry pie and the fluted edge.

The tin can be purchased from www.kitchenmonger.co.uk priced £18.95.

Thank you Eleanor.

Plum, Apple and Blackberry One Crust Pie

I really like these one crust pies, they always look so comforting and inviting. This recipe is by the Hairy Bikers' from their book Perfect Pies - some may say it isn't a pie because it hasn't got a lid but Delia Smith has a similar recipe in The Summer Collection, she also refers to this as a very easy one-crust pie, and so pie it is.

The pastry is brushed with egg and dusted heavily with golden caster sugar to give a sweet crunch when you bite into the buttery pastry. The mix of fruit is a perfect balance, but the recipe only gives 3 tablespoons of caster sugar to sweeten the fruit and I was a little concerned this was going to give a tart fruit mix. I used about 5 tablespoons of sugar and the sweetness was perfect.

The Hairy Bikers' omitted to say the size to roll out the pastry and so it was left for me to guess. Ha ha but I didn't, this is where Delia came in, in her book she says to roll the pastry out to a round of approximately 35cm and if you pile the fruit onto a 25cm circle and then turn the edges of the pastry up everything will be fine. The pastry needed a few more minutes to cook than the time specified in the book, but the buttery pastry was fabulous and the filling was perfect. A perfect pie for Mr W and myself, and so I'll give it 5/5.

The Hairy Bikers' have a huge smile on their faces on the front cover of the book and this book makes me smile too:) I don't normally give books a score but this one definitely deserves 5/5.

Book Recommendation: Tarts with Tops On, the title always makes me laugh, is written by Tamasin Day-Lewis, it is a brilliant book, well worth seeking out and I would recommend this book for more really good pie recipes.

BANOFFEE PIE

I love desserts, and Banoffee Pie has to be one of my favourites. It isn't a dessert I make very often, but when I do, it's heaven.

Mine are individual pies purely because I like to give my cooking rings some work to do every now and again.

The only twist to this classic recipe is to put some ground ginger into the crumb base, not too much, otherwise it will overpower the pies.


Merchant Gourmet have sent me a jar of their very popular Dulce de Leche Caramel Toffee to use in a recipe and I couldn't think of anything better than this classic pie, also it's wonderful to eat straight from the jar.


To serve: 6 people

You will need: six buttered 9cm or 10cm metal rings.

4 bananas, sliced
1 lemon, juice only
150g digestive biscuits
75g unsalted butter, melted
½ teaspoon ground ginger (optional)
450g jar Merchant Gourmet Banoffee Toffee Dulce de Leche
284ml carton of whipping cream, lightly whipped
plain chocolate shavings, for decoration

1. Toss the sliced bananas in the lemon juice and put to one side.
2. Put the biscuits in a food processor and whiz to crumbs. Add the melted butter and ginger, if using, and process for a minute or so to combine.
3. Put the metal rings on to a sheet of baking parchment on a tray. Press the biscuit crumbs into each ring. You can now put the tray into the fridge for the crumbs to firm up.
4. Remove the tray from the fridge and put a layer of toffee sauce (how much or how little is up to you) onto the crumb mixture.
5. Top the toffee sauce with the banana slices.
6. Carefully remove the rings.
7. Pipe or spoon on the cream, sprinkle with chocolate shavings and chill.

Thank you to Merchant Gourmet and Rebecca.

NORA'S APPLE PIE

I've made apple pie with so many twists in the past, I think I could write a book. I love apple pie with a top and bottom crust - with more satisfying pastry to eat, but then again......there is lots of apple filling when it is made in a deep dish with just a top crust!
I bought a collection of enamelled plates and dishes several years ago before they became popular with food stylists. If you go to the hardware shop you will be able to pick these up and they are relatively inexpensive.
Nora Sands came to the publics attention through Jamie Oliver's School Dinners Campaign and has now written her own cookery book. There are several tempting recipes - Sticky Messy Ribs, Stir-fry with Oodles of Noodles or how about Choca-block?
There is a section called 'Have you seen these vegetables'? or how about 'Make friends with your vegetables'.
It isn't easy finding time to cook with your children but the recipes in this book are fun, easy to make and it's good, honest family food.
Now, back to the apple pie. The cooking apples and granny smith apples combination worked well or you could use Cox's apples.

The pastry is buttery and crisp - unfortunately it doesn't cut very well without breaking up. Perhaps it would be better if the pastry is gently scored into portions before baking.
I've made this pie several times now and I can't make up my mind whether its the pastry I love, the apples or the cinnamon. Whatever it is, we just love it!

NORA'S DINNERS

ISBN 0007206615 - Page 136

Serves: 4

400g plain flour, pinch of salt, 160g butter, 4 tablespoons cold water, 3 medium cooking apples, 4 granny smith apples, 160g caster sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, small amount of milk for brushing the pastry.
You will need: 23cm round baking dish.

1. Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/Gas 7.
2. Make the pastry by rubbing the butter into the flour and salt until it looks like breadcrumbs. Sprinkle in the cold water. Bring together to make a ball of dough. Wrap the pastry in cling film and put into the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. Peel and core the apples, slice the apple thinly.
4. Take pastry dough out of the fridge and roll into a circle a little bit bigger than the widest part of your dish. Use the excess pastry to make a rim around the edge of the baking dish. Brush this with cold water.
5. Put the sliced apples into the baking dish. Sprinkle the 160g sugar and the cinnamon over the top of the apples and mix it all in.
6. Lay your rolled pastry over the top and pinch the edges down around the edge of the baking dish. Cut away any excess pastry.
7. With a fork make some holes in the pastry so that the steam from the apples can escape during cooking.
8. Put the pie in the fridge for 20 minutes for the pastry to rest.
9. Brush the top of the pie with milk and sprinkle with a little caster sugar.
10.Bake for 10 minutes then turn the oven down to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5 cook for another 30 minutes.
11. Serve with ice cream.

PEAR AND ALMOND TART WITH CHOCOLATE SAUCE

Jeanne over at Cook Sister is hosting
Waiter, There's Something in My...Topless Tart!
I've entered the 'Waiter' challenge several times click here to see my previous entries.
Pears, almonds and chocolate are a divine combination of flavours and on many occasions I have looked at this recipe longingly and waited for the right time to come along to make it. This was now the perfect excuse to indulge!
The book I've taken this recipe from is by food writer Louise Pickford who is a contributor to food magazines such as Delicious. I'm a huge fan of food writers and if you enjoy baking, this book will earn its place on the bookshelf.

FRESH BAKED - Louise Pickford

ISBN 0600613569 - Page 93

Serves: 8

The original recipe suggests making a sweet shortcrust pastry to line the tin but I opted for a basic shortcrust pastry.
Delia's method for baking a pastry case blind is the method I always use and needless to say it's foolproof.

FOR THE PASTRY CASE
225g plain flour, 50g butter, 50g lard, approximately 3 tablespoons cold water.
Make in the usual way and put in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll out and line a 25cm
flan tin. Prick the base with a fork and chill for a further 30 minutes. Bake blind in a preheated oven, 190°C(375°F) Gas Mark 5.
Leave the cooked pastry case to cool completely.

FOR THE FILLING
125g butter (softened), 125g caster sugar, 125g ground almonds, 2 eggs lightly beaten, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 ripe pears (peeled, cored and thickly sliced), 25g flaked almonds.

1. Beat the butter, sugar and ground almonds together until smooth and then beat in the eggs and lemon juice.
2. Arrange the pear slices over the pastry case and carefully spread over the almond cream. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and bake for 30 minutes or until the topping is golden and firm to the touch.
3. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
4. Dust the tart with icing sugar and serve in wedges with the chocolate sauce and some vanilla ice cream.

FOR THE CHOCOLATE SAUCE
100g dark chocolate chopped, 50g unsalted butter (diced), 1 tablespoon golden syrup.

Put the chocolate, butter and syrup in a small bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water and stir until melted. Leave to cool slightly.

BILBERRY 'MUCKY MOUTH' PIEWaiter, there's something in my ... pie!

This is my submission for the food blogging event.
Waiter, there's something in my ... pie! hosted by Cook Sister

I made this recipe with some blueberries I had frozen last summer when they were in season. The recipe has been made by the catering team at the National Trust's Penrhyn Castle Tea Rooms in North Wales where it has been one of the most popular items on their menu. It comes from the National Trust's own collection of Victorian recipes. It takes its name from the children's habit of collecting bilberries and shoving handfuls of them into their mouths - with predictable results.

THE BOOK OF OLD TARTS - BY ELIZABETH HODDER

ISBN 0747221057 - Page 86

Serves: 6-8 people but can easily be scaled down.

Skill Level: Moderate.

Taste Test: The pastry melted in the mouth and the blueberry and apple combination tasted fresh.

Firstly, I had to make a rich sweet shortcrust pastry which called for quite a lot of sugar, I omitted most of this and only used 14g as I could see from the filling ingredients list that lots more sugar was to be used. The pastry case had to be baked blind - and on eating the pie I was pleased about this because the filling would have made the base soggy. Instead the base had a wonderful crunch to it.

I used a 20cm, and not the 23cm loose-based pie tin recommended and scaled down the filling ingredients. In the original recipe 675g of blueberries were stated, but I only had 500g and so I used these. If you use the original recipe to the letter I would scale down the amount of caster sugar, in both the pastry and filling, otherwise the pie will be far too sweet.

The surprise ingredient in this pie is using fresh mint. I have to admit I left this out, purely because I wanted to make sure I was going to enjoy the pie – after all, I did use up my stock of blueberries.

I served the pie with homemade yoghurt - the acidity from the yoghurt complimented the sweetness of the pie perfectly.

Kitchen Equipment used: Magimix Food Processor.


For a 23cm (9 inch) pie you will need 350g (12 oz) of rich sweet shortcrust pastry.

Rich Sweet Shortcrust Pastry: 225g (8 oz) plain flour, 1 large pinch of salt, 115g (4 oz) butter, 55g (2 oz) caster sugar, 1 egg yolk, 2 tablespoons very cold water.

Whiz the flour, salt and butter to breadcrumbs in the food processor, add the egg yolk and water, whiz again until the mixture just comes together. Wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes. Roll the pastry out between two sheets of clingfilm, and use to line the loose-based pie tin. Prick the base all over with a fork and brush the pastry base with beaten egg. Place on a pre-heated baking tray in a preheated oven (180°C/350°F/Gas 4) and cook the pie base for 25 minutes.

Turn the heat up to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5.

Filling ingredients:
2 large granny smith apples (or dessert apples), peeled, cored and thinly sliced.
225g (8 oz) caster sugar (I would reduce this to 170g/6 oz).
Juice of half a lemon
1 heaped tablespoon of finely chopped fresh mint(optional)
675g (1½lb) blueberries
115g (4 oz) icing sugar

Place the apple slices in a bowl and sprinkle with half the sugar and the lemon juice. Toss to mix and leave for 20 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, place the apple slices in the pre-baked pastry case. Mix the mint (if using), with the blueberries and then put them on top of the apple slices. Sprinkle with the remaining sugar and juices from the apples. Place a pie raiser or an upturned eggcup in the centre of the tart.

Roll out the remaining pastry for the lid and place over the filling, sealing the edges. Make a slit in the centre of the pastry lid. Bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the apple slices are soft. Remove from the oven and allow the tart to rest and cool.
Do not remove the pie from the tin until cool otherwise it will crumble.

Placed the icing sugar in a bowl and slowly add a few teaspoons of very hot water, mixing until you have the right consistency, drizzle over the pastry crust in no particular pattern.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!!