Impress your friends with these delicious mince pies with a delicate frangipane topping.
Ingredients
Filling
410g mincemeat
2 satsumas, peeled and segmented
1 eating apple, cored and diced into small pieces
Zest of 1 lemon
Pastry
165g plain flour
25g ground almonds
120g cold butter, diced
55g caster sugar
1 medium egg
Frangipane
100g butter, softened
100g caster sugar
40g plain flour
60g ground almonds
2 large eggs, beaten
2 tbsp flaked almonds
Method
1. Make the filling by mixing all the ingredients together. Cover and leave to macerate for a few hours or overnight.
2. To make the pastry, stir the flour and ground almonds together in a large bowl. Rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Gradually add the eggs and work the mixture until it forms a soft dough.
3. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and form a ball. Flatten with your fingers into a disc and wrap in cling film. Chill for at least 3 hours before using.
4. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C. Grease a 12 hole bun tray with butter.
5. Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3mm. If the pastry breaks or sticks, just press back together and re-roll. Stamp out 12 discs using a 10cm pastry cutter. Use these to line the prepared tin.
6. Make the frangipane by beating together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the flour and mix well. Add the beaten eggs and stir until fully incorporated. Stir in the almonds.
7. Put 1½ tsp of the mincemeat filling into the pastry cases. Don’t over fill as the mixture can leak when cooked. Pipe or spoon the frangipane over the mincemeat. Scatter the flaked almonds over each pie. Bake for 20 minutes until the topping is risen golden and set.
6. Carefully remove the mince pies from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm or cold, dusted with icing sugar.