Mince pies

Mince pies: Addictive little bites. Image: Irene Muller.

Mince pies – Christmas in July is here

Call the family together and celebrate Christmas in July with tasty little mince pie bites.

Mince pies

Mince pies: Addictive little bites. Image: Irene Muller.

One of the best sights during Christmas time is the rows of mince pies on the shelves in groceries stores. This July, celebrate Christmas in July with us by baking these delightful bites.

This recipe is much easier than you think. After baking these mince pies once, you will never want to buy them again. The homemade option is so much tastier and fun as you can decorate them any way you want. Instead of using star cookie cutters for the pastry covering the mince pies, you can use any other cookie-cutter form you prefer.

This recipe has been adjusted so that you can bake your mince pies on your Weber braai or any other braai that has a lid. This is a fun activity that any ardent braai enthusiast may enjoy taking part in.

This July, make sure you create some festivity despite the cold weather by baking these tasty mince pies. This may just become an annual tradition in your family.

Mince pies recipe

5 from 1 vote
Recipe by Irene Muller Course: SnacksCuisine: GlobalDifficulty: Easy
Servings

12

servings
Prep time

20

minutes
Cooking time

10

minutes
Total time

30

minutes

Ingredients

  • 150 g 150 plain flour

  • 75 g 75 softened butter

  • 37 g 37 caster sugar

  • 2 tablespoons 2 water

  • zest of 1 lemon

  • 150 g 150 good quality mincemeat

  • beaten egg (optional to glaze before baking)

Method

  • Pre-heat your barbecue to 200°C.
  • Put the softened butter and water into a bowl and beat until all the water has emulsified in the butter.
  • Mix in the sugar before finally adding the flour. At this point, the pastry will come together in a dough ball and be ready to work with.
  • On a lightly floured work surface, and using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll out the pastry to approximately the thickness of a coin.
  • Take out a muffin pan. There is no need to butter the tin as this pastry has a ratio of 50% butter to flour. Choose a round pastry cutter that will make a disc large enough to cover the base of each muffin mould and come to the top of each recess.
  • Add enough mincemeat to fill each base almost level with the top of the sides.
  • If you like the pattern used in the image of this recipe, use a star-shaped cutter and make 12 shapes to top off the mince pies with.
  • Glaze the mince pies with the beaten egg (optional).
  • Place a Weber Style Grill Basket upside down in the area of in-direct heat and place the muffin tin on top.
  • Close the lid and bake for 10 minutes, or until the pastry is a lovely golden brown on the top and underneath.
  • Take off the barbecue and remove the mince pies to a wire cooling rack.
  • Store in an airtight tin or container, or dust with icing sugar.

Notes

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