Alice Rhodes

Everyone loves a Christmas treat! One of my personal favourite snacks at this time of year is a mince pie, every Christmas Eve me and my Dad make a batch for Christmas (even though we're all too full for them after Christmas Dinner!). Here's how I make them!

For twelve mince pies you will need:

- bun tin

- large mixing bowl

-scales

-round cutters

-decorative cutters (stars and Christmas trees)

-mincemeat

-1 egg

-icing sugar

-ground cinnamon

-100g unsalted butter 

-225g plain flour

1. To start of you want to make your pastry. Weigh the flour and put it into your mixing bowl; then weigh the butter, cut it into small cubes and add it to the flour. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until they have mixed into crumbs. 

2. Next add around two table spoons of cold water to the flour and butter and stir it with a knife until it forms a dough ball (use hands if necessary). Wrap up the dough ball in cling film and leave it in the fridge for 15 minutes to half an hour.

3. Set your oven to 200 *C, 450*F or gas mark 8 whilst the pastry is cooling.

4. Take the pastry out of the fridge and roll to a thin thickness (remember to flour the worktop and rolling pin) Cut twelve large circles, twelve smaller circles, eight stars and four Christmas trees out of the pastry. 

5. Line the bun tin with the large circles and fill them with an appropriate amount of mincemeat (don't over do it, they'll leak!). Beat an egg and brush the edges of the circles with it; then place the smaller circles on top and seal the edges to avoid the filling spilling out. 

6. Brush the tops of the mince pies with beaten egg; place the decorative stars and trees onto the tops and brush them with egg too. The beaten egg will help to seal the pies and give them a golden-brown finish when baked. 

7. Place the mince pies into the oven for 10 to 15 minutes (keep checking them throughout the bake). Once they have turned a nice golden brown take them out of the oven and leave to cool. 

8. Finally, dust six of the mince pies with icing sugar and the other half with cinnamon and voila, your mince pies are ready to eat! 

That's it! Your treat is ready to eat with a hot chocolate by a nice warm fire, whilst watching your favourite Christmas film (of course). I hope this post helped you make some delicious mince pies, if not it probably made you wish you had a mince pie in hand (I want one writing this!). I'd love to see your Christmas bakes, tweet me @ alicerhodesblog .