Baking our festive mince pies ...

Do you have lots of mince pies in the house over the festive season? It is one of those things that just seems right - a hot cup of something & a warming mince pie to round it all off.

Being extra health conscious, we decided to once again make our own because then we know exactly what is going in to them &  definitely no hydrogenated fats or too much sugars etc.

 

 

The pastry was made as follows:
420g plain flour
140g icing sugar
350g cold butter, cubed
grated rind & juice of 1 orange

Sift the flour & icing sugar together in a bowl. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs, then add the orange rind & enough juice to bind it.

Gather in a ball, cover with cling film & refrigerate for 20 minutes before rolling out on a lightly floured board.

For the filling, I used a bottle of organic mince pie fruit & added organic mixed fruits, various peels as well as ginger wine & a dash of cheerful sherry! This was all left overnight in the fridge to blend the flavours.

Marzipan starts for the tops of the mince pies

Lots of citrus zest in the pastry to give it flavour

Baked at 220  for 15-20 minutes

Lots of rolling to fill pans ...

Half way through baking, the marzipan stars are added to the tops to stop them browning too much.

Cooling on the rack

Adding a dash of ginger wine to the last batch

All done ...

A very busy time baking but the tins are now full of delicious home made mince pies to enjoy.

Have you done any baking? I am sure your mince pies are a lot neater! I love the fact that home baking controls the quality of what we eat over Christmas & it is always nicer to offer something you have put time & effort in to.

Hope your festive plans are going well everyone, thanks for stopping by
Dee ~♥~