Ingredients
For the chocolate pastry:
- 400g plain flour
- 275g unsalted butter
- 75g icing sugar
- 75g ground almonds
- 50g cocoa powder
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2-3 tbsp milk
For the mincemeat:
- 450g raisins
- 225g sultanas
- 225g currants
- 900g dark brown muscovado sugar
- 450g vegetarian suet
- 110g mixed peel
- 125ml brandy or whiskey
- 3 tbsp marmalade
- 2 large cooking apples, grated
- Zest of 3 large oranges
- 100g good quality dark chocolate, coarsely grated
Directions
- Preheat oven to 165°c / gas mark 4 ½
- For the chocolate pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the icing sugar, ground almonds and cocoa powder.
- Make a well in the centre. Add the egg yolks (and a little milk if necessary) and mix until it comes together in a ball.
- Wrap in Clingfilm, refrigerate and leave to rest for 20-30 minutes.
- For the mincemeat, In a large bowl combine all the dried fruit, cover the fruit with bowling water and allow to plump up in the liquid for 30 minutes, then drain well. Transfer the drained fruit into a clean bowl and mix in the remaining ingredients, stirring well.
- To make the mince pies, grease the mince pie or muffin tins well. Roll the chocolate pastry out to about 3mm thick and cut out 24 circles, around 2cm larger than the diameter of the holes in your tin. Then line the tins.
- For the top of the pies cut out 24 smaller stars, holly leaves or Christmas trees to use as lids. Generously fill the pastry bases with the chocolate mincemeat, then place a lid on top and gently brush with a little milk.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes.
- Allow to cool slightly in the tin and then remove from the tray to cool fully on a wire rack.
- Dust with icing sugar and serve. These keep well in an airtight container for up to a week.
Recipe courtesy of AVOCA.
Tips
Make the mincemeat a few days before you're going to assemble your pies as the flavour matures.
