Lauren Gemmell

Food, Fitness, and Technology

Tag: mince pie

Cherry and Almond Mince Pies

Christmas isn’t Christmas without the buttery pastry and spicy dried fruit filling of a mince pie.

Mince Pies

Mince pies are one of the best desserts at Christmas time, they are great warmed with cream and ice cream, wonderful with a cup of coffee and amazing for breakfast!

Growing up in my family they were plenty of festive tiffins, tablets and meringues to snack upon which everyone loved, but my favourite was always the mince pie. I loved the spicy flavours and the dried fruit, and the smell! To some people it’s the smell of pine, to others mulled wine, but to me its freshly baked mince pies, that smell like Christmas.

Cherry and Almond Mince Pies


~ should make around 20 (with leftover mince meat).

  • 1 batch of Cherry and Almond Mincemeat
  • 1 package of pre-made shortcrust pastry
  • 100 ml of milk, for brushing the top of the pastry with.
  • Cinnamon sugar, optional
Pre heat the oven to 180 oC and grease a fairy cake tin.

Roll out the pastry till it is about 1cm thick. Using a cookie cutter cut out circles, which will form the base of your mince pie, and stars that will form the top.

Gently press the circles into the tin, filling each with around 2-3 heaped teaspoons into each pie. Top each pie with a pastry star.

After you have completed all the pies, use a pastry brush to lightly cover each star with a little milk. If you have it sprinkle each pie with cinnamon sugar before baking.

Leave the pies in the oven for around 15 minutes, until they have turned golden, leave them to cool on a rack for at least 5 minutes.

Writing this post on a full stomach is one of the hardest things I have had to do, I just absolutely could not eat another mince pie. Still thinking of the smells and the textures is making my mouth water.

Maybe in half an hour I’ll be able to eat one more…

Cherry and Almond Mincemeat

For a couple of weeks now in the office there has been an almost constant supply of mince pies on the sharing food pile, so far I have managed to avoid these with my no mince pies till December rule. However this year I have an added incentive, tucked away in my fridge is a jar of homemade mincemeat.

I have promised myself that the first bite of a mince pie I have this year will not be the sad excuse that the supermarket’s sell. No, I will have a mince pie made entirely by my own hand.

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