#FestiveFruitFriday - Easy, Fruity Mince Pies

Nothing says Christmas like a good mince pie and how much better does it get than making your own? Well, I'm sure it gets better if the recipe you use is by Great British Bake Off's Paul Hollywood! This is one of his from BBC Food but we just had to share it with you all, due to his absolutely inspired use of more and more fruit - we just can't resist fruity treats! (Also, it might have something to do with our GBBO withdrawals...) Just make sure there's no soggy bottoms!

Pastry:

• 375g plain flour
• 250g softened butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 1 medium egg
• Sprinkle of icing sugar to finish

Filling:

• 800g mincemeat
• 2 tangerines, flesh chopped and zest grated
• 1 apple, finely diced

Specialist Equipment:

• 12 holed muffin tray
• round pastry cutter (6x9cm/3 1/2 inch)
• fluted pastry cutter (6x8cm/3 1/4 inch)
• You can have a variation on pastry cutter sizes, as long as the fluted cutter (which will be the top) is slightly smaller than the round one.

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas Mark 6
2. Rub together the flour, butter, sugar and egg with a bit of cold water until it becomes a dough. Don't over rub it, and once it comes together wrap it in cling film and let it chill in the fridge.
3. For the filling, mix together the mincemeat and zest in a bowl. Then, add in the tangerine flesh and apple pieces and mix until the pieces are evenly distributed throughout the mixture.
4. Roll out the pastry to an approx. 3mm thickness and cut out 12 discs with your round pastry cutter.
5. Press the discs into the muffin tray holes and evenly distribute the filling - each pastry cup should be 3/4 full
6. Now use the fluted pastry cutter to cut out 12 discs and place these as lids on the top of each pie and gently press down on the edges to join.
7. Sprinkle with any leftover caster sugar (optional) then put into the oven on the middle shelf to bake for 20 minutes.
8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool then sprinkle with icing sugar.
9. Serve warm from the oven with cream or keep in an airtight container ready to take to a Christmas party!

Let us know in the comments how you got on with this recipe and tweet us @office_fruit with any suggestions for other fruity variations of Christmas food!

Photo Credit: | 1 |