It’s Christmasss!!!!
I told you only a couple of days I just completely love December and the run up to Christmas, well now it’s time to get really festive! Every year I like to make mince pies and this year I changed it up a little bit and tried something new!
It is SUPER easy to make these and what is great about making your own is you know there are no preservatives!
Ingredients – Makes 16-20
100g raisins
100g currants
100g sultanas
100g dried cranberries
25g whole almonds, roughly chopped
100g light brown sugar
75g butter plus a little extra to melt later.
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1/2 lemon, juice and zest
100ml brandy
Filo pastry
Cake tin
Method
Add the butter to a pan with the sugar, raisins, sultanas, currants, cranberries, almonds, sugar, cinnamon, mixed spice and lemon juice and zest.
Stir this altogether and bring it to a really gentle simmer for about 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it and stir occasionally.
Remove from the heat and let this cool. Then add the brandy, stir and leave covered in a dark place.
At this point it’s totally up to you – some people like to leave theirs for a week or so to let the flavours enhance, but to be honest that goes back to traditional mincemeat with real mince but I just left it for the day. Its totally up to you!
When you are ready it is time to make the pies! Heat the oven to about 170 degrees Celsius. Take the filo pastry out of the bag and lay out on a chopping board. Using a knife gently slice down to create squares of filo about 7-8cm by 7-8cm.
Melt the butter. Using a little brush of some kitchen roll, brush the butter in the holes in the cake tin to allow the filo to stick.
Take 3 squares of filo and put over the holes one by one. Push into the holes, really try and push round into the corners..
Add two teaspoons of the mincemeat to each.
Using some of the leftover filo, scrunch up a piece and place on top of each. Using the leftover butter, brush some more over.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until crispy!
Enjoy!
These are so much lighter than the usual pastry and so so yummy!
Let me know if you give these a try too!
Love, A x
Food with Alice 
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