It’s mince pie season! Whether you’ve made your mincemeat or use shop bought you should try making this pastry. When I worked at Llewelyn’s in Herne Hill I held a full on mince pie tasting for the chefs and Alcides, the GM. The one with cream cheese in the pastry came out as the overall winner and I haven’t looked back since. The butter and cream cheese together give the pastry a really short flaky texture. Just make sure the cream cheese is at room temperature and don’t overwork the dough too much! Thank me later
Makes 8 mince pies
100g unsalted butter, softened
130g full fat cream cheese
1tsbp caster sugar
190g plain flour
¼ tsp of fine salt
360-400g good quality mincemeat
1 egg for brushing
Demerera sugar for sprinkling on top
Liberally butter and flour 8 holes of a deep muffin tin, place in the fridge for later
Make the pastry by beating the butter until soft and pliable. Add in the cream cheese and beat briefly until the two are mixed properly
Stir together the flour, sugar and salt, add to the butter mixture and mix quickly until a sticky dough forms
Scoop into a piece of parchment/clingfilm, press to form a disc and chill in the fridge for 2-4 hours until completely cold and firm
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll to the thickness of 4-5mm, place on a tray lined with parchment and place in the fridge
Cut out 8 each of 9cm (31⁄2in) circles and 4cm (11⁄2in) circles, re-rolling the trimmings if needed, and return to the fridge.
Use these discs when cool, keep them in the fridge in-between as this pastry gets very soft quickly. Thin out the edges and press into the tin gently and evenly, there should be some pastry hanging over the edges – this is good we will use it to enclose the mince pie
Fill up to the top with mincemeat
Thin out the second set of pastry discs and place on top of the mince pie, fold the edges over the middle
These need to chill in the fridge now for 1 hour
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan/200 degrees oven
Brush the tops of the mince pie with egg wash and using a sharp knife pierce a hole in the top of the mince pie in the middle
Sprinkle demerera sugar on top
Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and the filling is oozing over the side a bit
Run a palette knife around the edge when still warm (be careful) and release the mince pie
Enjoy with brandy butter, jersey cream, pouring cream, ice cream…!
P.S. Keep an eye out for our new intermediate baking & cooking courses to be released in mid Dec! More info coming over on our socials @damsonjellyacademy
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