Receta Holiday Baking| Christmas Fruit Mince Pies …
“Marge, it’s 3 AM. Shouldn’t you be baking?”
Homer Simpson
Did you make your own fruit mincemeat this year? I just about did, and far too late in the month IMHO. I procrastinated forever; then noticed it was the 18th of December and hit the panic button. It was now or never since it needs a few days to soak the fruit. I eventually got it done, also getting distracted along the way … and suddenly, it was time for a batch of Christmas Fruit Mince Pies!Day 3 yesterday and the soaked fruit was looking plump, good and shiny. I should have waited to turn the whole batch into my Garam Masala Christmas Cake, but I couldn’t resist making some little mince pies! {I write this post as my fruit cakes finally bake in the oven!}My sister sent me a load of baking goodies with the BIL who flew in from the US, much like Santa who got here before time. Petit tins of all sizes, something that I love, vanilla beans, sprinkles, a dessert cookie baking tray, a Lindzer cookie cutter, a ‘sack‘ of baking chocolate chips … loads more!Despite telling her that I hardly bake ‘fancy‘ {read tedious} cookies any more, I pulled out the Lindzer set to make a batch of Toasted Walnut Linzer Cookies with Strawberry Filling. Typically, my mind wandered in the opposite direction, and I whizzed some pâte sucrée in the Thermomix. Soon the dough was being rolled and the Lindzer cookie cutters were being used to make toppings for petit fruitmince pies!Its dangerous to have a big bowl of fruit soaking on the counter. Hungry mouths on the prowl get attracted to it, so I hid it … but couldn’t get it it out of my head! Yesterday I figured I could nick some for a before Christmas cake treat. These little pies are fun to make; quick too. I love using the snowflake cutters sweet Nic @ Cherrapeno gave me … so festive! Use your favourite pâte sucrée / sweet pastry dough or use the one below. This works a classic 2:1 ratio of flour and butter. As with pie/pastry dough, keep handling/kneading to an absolute minimum. That way you’ll have a nice light, crisp pastry once baked. If you like, you can add some apple to the filling, like Alli did in her Christmas Chocolate & Fruit Mince Pies. Nice!!
Christmas Fruit Mince Pies
The fruitmince pies get made really fast and make for handsome bites, crisp too. Use your favourite pâte sucrée / sweet pastry dough or use the one below.
Ingredients
1 portion Pâte Sucrée {recipe follows}
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup fruit mincemeat {recipe follows}
- 1/2 egg white {or yolk for egg wash}
- Vanilla sugar for sprinkling
- Pâte Sucrée / Sweet Pastry
- 200gm all purpose flour
- 2 tbsp sugar
- pinch of salt
- 100gm chilled butter, cubed
- 1 egg, lightly whisked with fork
- 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1-2tbsp chilled water {to bind if required}
- Mincemeat or fruit mix, sans suet {you will need about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of this}
- 700gms raisins, chopped if desired
- 200 currants
- 100gms orange peel, chopped
- 170gms almonds, chopped
- 250gms cashewnuts, chopped
- 100gms candied cherries, chopped
- 1/4 cup Cherry liquor/brandy
- 1/2 cup rum {or brandy}
- 3/4 cup fresh orange juice {from 3 keenus/oranges}
- Juice of 3-4 limes
- Zest of 2 keenus/oranges
- 4 tbsp garam masala
Instructions
Pâte Sucrée / Sweet Pastry
Place the flour, salt, scraped vanilla beans and sugar in bowl of processor and blend briefly. {Thermomix: Speed 6, 5 seconds}
Add chilled butter and process until you get a breadcrumb like mix. {Thermomix: Speed 8, 6-7 seconds}
With the machine running, add the egg and process till it the dough begins to come together. {Thermomix: Speed 8, 7-8 seconds}
If you pinch the dough with your fingertips it should stick together. If not add a tbsp of chilled water and process.
Turn dough onto work surface and pat together into a firm ball. Do not knead / overprocess. Let it rest 10-20 minutes {I left it on the counter as its very cold here. If the temperature is warm, rest the dough in the fridge}.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
On a very lightly floured surface, take a quarter of the dough and roll it out thin. Cut out 12 circles with a fluted cookie cutter and place in tart tray. Repeat with next portion of dough.
Fill each base with a heaped tsp of mincemeat.
Now cut out 24 'toppers' from the remaining dough {or a combination of fluted cut-out tops, stars, snowflakes etc} and place over fruit, pressing down slightly.
Brush the tops with a beaten egg white {or egg yolk}, sprinkle with vanilla sugar and bake for 15-18 minutes until light golden brown.
Leave in tray for 1-2 minutes, remove to rack and cool.
Mincemeat / fruitmince or fruit mix, sans suet
Mix all the ingredients nicely and soak overnight in a cool place, or for 3-4 days. The longer you soak the fruit, the more mature the flavour. I soaked mine for 3 days. {You can substitute the alcohol with an equal amount of orange juice too}
2.0
http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2011/12/holiday-baking-christmas-fruit-mince-pies.html
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