Make the pastry

• Sift the plain flour (400g) into a large bowl.
• Add the caster sugar (80g) and ground almonds (150g).
• Cut the butter (250g) into cubes and add to the bowl.
• Rub the butter into the dry ingredients until it form breadcrumbs - I find that it's easier to do this if you have cold hands as this helps to keep the butter firmer.
• Once your mixture is the consistency of breadcrumbs, in a separate bowl, beat the egg (2 eggs) and the add it into the mixture.
• Mix the egg into the mixture and then bring the mixture together with your hands - if the mixture is a bit dry and crumbly, knead it a few times until it comes together. Be careful not to over-knead the pastry as this may make it less tender to eat.
• Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill for about half an hour.
• Lightly grease your muffin tins with butter.

Make the pies

• Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll out to your desired thickness - I prefer not to make the pastry too thin as I like a generous amount of mincemeat filling and keeping the pastry a little thicker gives the right balance or pastry and filling. I sometimes have trouble with pastry sticking, so I cheat and put the pastry between two sheets of cling film before rolling. The cling film is then easily peeled off. I also prefer not to roll out all of the pastry in one go. I roll out enough for a few circles, keeping the rest in the fridge until I'm ready to use it.
• Cut out 14 large circles and gentle press each pastry circle into a hole in your muffin tin. I find it easiest to lay the circle of pastry flat on the tin and the gently push down the centre. I then gently push the bottom to the edges of the tin. If you accidentally make a hole you can use a small amount of spare pastry to patch the hole. just make sure to seal the edges so that the filling doesn't leak out.
• Fill each pie with a generous tablespoon of mincemeat. Don't fill each pie completely to the top as you need to leave space to add a lid.
• Cut out 14 smaller circles and place onto the top of each pie. Gently press around the edges to seal the lid to the base of the pie
• Using a sharp knife, cut a slit in the top of each pie
• Brush the top of each pie with a little milk
• Cover the pies with cling film and chill for about 30 minutes
• Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC fan
• Bakes the pies for 20 minutes, until the pastry is a golden brown colour.
• Once cooked, leave to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes and then remove and allow to cool on a wire rack (or, even better, eat them still warm from the oven)