I didn't really eat mince pies before, well I did but they had to be hot with lots of extra thick cream. But I'd seen a recipe from Kirstie Allsopp and as she is one of my idols I had to give it a go.
I failed.
Miserably.
The pastry didn't cook well and it all ended up a big soggy yukky mess.
And so I gave up.
Then this year I decided I couldn't let pastry get the better of me, and successfully made Sausage Rolls.
Well, I thought, if I can make sausage rolls then I can make mince pies.
And two days ago as the ingredients were dropped off by my jolly Sainsburys driver I set about completing my perfect Christmas housewife challenge.
You need:
Puff Pastry (I used a block)
Flour for sprinkling
Egg wash
Mincemeat
I decided to keep it simple and basically wanted to follow the same process as the sausage rolls.
Rather than the sheets of pastry I had a block of puff pastry (this wasn't what I ordered but this is what Sainsburys had substituted me with) so I first cut it in half, put some flour on my work top and rolled the pastry into a rectangle.
I then spooned mincemeat along the top of the pastry (leaving a cm gap from the edge to make it easy to roll) and then rolled the pastry up, leaving an inch at the bottom of the rectangle, brush on some egg and then fold and press so that the pastry sticks together.
Flatten the roll slightly and brush along the top with egg wash. I used a fork to do this and scored the pastry slightly.
Once this is done then slice the roll into portions. I got around 6 pieces from the roll. Then put the mince pie rolls onto a baking tray (I lined my tray with greaseproof paper which worked really well)
Place in a preheated oven (200 degrees) for around 20-25 minutes.
Serve hot or leave to cool.
With the other pastry I decided to experiment and made squares, in one corner put a couple of teaspoons of mincemeat and then folded the other corner over, almost like an apple turnover/Samosa. These were obviously equally as yummy, and probably a little easier to eat as they were easy to hold and didn't have as much of the mincemeat pouring out.
Christmas Housewife Challenge: PASSED
