Make your Christmas extra special with these pretty mince pies decorated with stars, holly and snowflakes. Perfect for festive parties or as a treat with a cup of tea on a chilly evening.
I made these mince pies with absolutely no intention on putting them on the blog. I actually made them as a prop for the photographs for another recipe I’ll be sharing soon. However, I got about halfway through and decided they were so pretty they deserved a post in their own right.
The reason I wasn’t going to share them was because it’s not a new recipe. I simply used my recipe for traditional, deep-filled mince pies which I shared with you all last Christmas, it’s just presented in a prettier way. The new design got really lovely comments from everyone I’ve shown them to so far, and the great thing is that you can personalise them however you want (or to suit whatever festive cutters you have lurking at the back of your kitchen drawer!).
I made mine using these little tartlet tins from Lakeland, which I also used for my summer berry and custard tarts. The non-stick coating means that the pastry doesn’t stick, even when I slightly overfilled a batch and the mincemeat overflowed while they were cooking, and the loose bottom made it really easy to lift them out.
A little confession
I generally like to pretend that I’m some sort of domestic goddess who lives in the kitchen and makes everything from scratch, but sadly that’s not (always) true. I normally make my own mincemeat but because I only decided to bake these at the last minute, and the dried fruit needs time to soak up all the alcohol, I snapped up a few jars of Tesco finest instead. If you don’t have time to make your own then I’d really recommend it.
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Pretty Mince Pies
Equipment
- Large bowl
- Small bowl
- Sieve
- Weighing scales
- Cling film
- 6 x 10cm loose-bottom tart tins
- Festive shape cutters
- Cooling rack
INGREDIENTS
INSTRUCTIONS
Make the pastry
- Sift the plain flour (200g) into a large bowl.
- Add the caster sugar (40g) and ground almonds (75g) and give it all a quick stir.
- Cut the butter (125g) into cubes and add it to the bowl.
- Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it has the appearance of breadcrumbs.
- In a separate bowl beat the egg (1 egg) and add it to the mixture.
- Mix the egg into the other ingredients then bring the mixture together with your hands. If it's a bit dry and crumby knead it a few times until it comes together. If you find it a bit tricky try wrapping it in some clingfilm and then squeezing it while wrapped, it helps to ensure the loose bits don't escape.
- Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and chill for about half an hour.
Make the pies
- Lightly grease your tart tins with butter.
- Remove your pastry from the fridge and roll it out thinly (about 1-2mm thick). To make this easier I prefer to only roll out enough for one pie at a time and I roll it between two sheets of clingfilm. This stops it sticking to the work surface/rolling pin and makes it easier to lift up and pop into the tart tin.
- Carefully put the pastry into the tart tin and gently push it into the corners. Don't worry if you get a hole or two, simply use a bit of spare pastry to patch up the holes.
- Roll your rolling pin across the top of the tin and remove any excess pastry.
- Add a heaped tablespoon of mincemeat into the tin and use the back of the spoon to spread it evenly.
- Roll out the off cuts of pastry until they are the same thickness as the pastry lining the tin (using clingfilm again to make it easier) and use your festive cutters to cut out some shapes. Pop them on top of your pie.
- Repeat until you've made all of your pies.
- Pop the pies into the fridge for about 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile pre-heat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan.
- Put the pies into the oven and bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
- Leave the pies to cool in the tins for about 10 minutes before carefully lifting them out and putting them onto a cooling rack to cool fully.
NOTES
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
Any nutritional information provided is the estimated nutritional information per serving. Please refer to my guide to Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen nutritional information if you would like to learn more about how this is calculated.
Dorothy Benner says
True homemade mincemeat makes the best. I follow a recipe, and then add/change what I want to make it better. Instead of all raisins, I use about 1/4 as many raisins, chopped dried cranberries, small blueberries, and a can of drained, crushed pineapple. Yummy!
Rebecca says
They look lovely! Mince pie reminds me of grandma, and I’m planning on making one this Christmas for my family. A suggestion: I don’t use the measurement of “grams”, so it would be appreciated to show “cup, teaspoon” equivalents in parenthesis.
Charlotte Oates says
I am slowly adding cups measurements to my recipes but I haven’t quite gotten around to this one yet. If you pop each of the ingredients into my grams to cups calculator you’ll be able to easily work out what you need. The only ingredient from this recipe not listed in the calculator is mincemeat. 400g of mincemeat is approximately 1.25 cups
Emma @ Supper in the Suburbs says
They are so stunning they DEFINITELY deserve a place of their own on the blog. Great work 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Emma. I really enjoyed making the pretty ones, I’m not sure I’ll go back to making the regular ones again!
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
Oh wow these look like a perfect mince pie and they look so pretty. I have got to admit that mince pies are my favourite Christmas baking! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Kirsty. You’ve got me wondering what my favourite Christmas baking is – I can’t decide!
Sarah says
Very excited that mince pie season is upon us once more! I do love the way you’ve presented these – I’ll have to give them a whirl. On the mince pie filling debate – I am usually a big fan of cooking from scratch but with mince meat, I think it’s hard to beat a shop bought variety – so long as it’s a good quality one. #TastyTuesdays
Charlotte Oates says
There’s something I find quite satisfying about knowing I’ve made everything from scratch, but like you say, as long as you buy a decent quality mincemeat from the shops it tastes just as good (and sometimes better if you don’t have time to let it sit and the flavours develop for a bit).
mummyofboygirltwins says
Yummy these look fab and how pretty too 🙂 I love making mince pies and eating them! I can’t wait to get started now xx
#tastytuesdays
Charlotte Oates says
It’s fun isn’t it and I enjoyed these more than usual as I love playing with cutters 🙂 Enjoys making yours x
Eb Gargano says
These just look awesome! I do something similar with the kids each year but mine don’t look quite as pretty as yours (though I like to kid myself it’s because the kids are helping me…) Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
I kept the boys well away from these as I wanted the to stay pretty. I’ll let them help next time and share a picture, I’m pretty sure they won’t look quite the same (although I’m also sure I’ll love them more!).
Eb Gargano says
I think mostly I insist on my kids helping with things like this so I have a good excuse as to why they don’t look perfect! x
Charlotte Oates says
Genius plan!!
Alice says
I don’t like mince pies but these pretty ones look pretty tempting!! YUM! #recipeoftheweek
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Alice. If you’re not too keen on mincemeat then you could always fill them with your favourite pie filling and top them in the same way.
Andrea ( aka rokinrev) says
My grandmother taught me how to make mince pies, and at 59 this little 6 year old inside wants to do it again. Thanx for the memories
Charlotte Oates says
How lovely xx
You should definitely make some again.
Lucy @ BakingQueen74 says
Gorgeous mince pies! Your cutters make them works of art. I will be trying your recipe once I’ve made some mince meat! Thanks for joining in with Perfecting Patisserie 🙂
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Lucy. I enjoy making these more than the regular ones as it’s fun to choose the designs on top.
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
Wow Charlotte, these look so delicious! Perfect to enjoy with a pot of tea whilst building up to the festivities. And I totally agree with Mel, they certainly deserve their own post. They’re so lovely.
Angela x
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks Angela. We’ve been treating ourselves in the evening with a cup of tea and some homemade brandy butter.
Mel says
Oh wow, these pretty babies definitely needed a post of their own, even if you were using your trusty recipe posted last year. Who cares? I love the fact you made so many different ones. My little ones love doing that with their cookie cutters. x
Charlotte Oates says
Thanks lovely Mel. I couldn’t resist using as many cutters as possible 🙂 (they were too pretty to let the boys near them, maybe they can help next time!)
Mel says
My little monkeys always help in the kitchen (including when I am about to take / taking a photo). That might explain why my photos are not half as pretty as yours!!!
Charlotte Oates says
I was photographing some pies yesterday and Josh was trying to pinch the brocolli. He was so happy when I finished and sat there nibbling on a plateful watching Cars on TV.
(They’ve got used to the idea of me obsessively taking photos and are pretty patient fortunately).