Having Christmas with sun and sand is making me far more freakily crazy traditional in every other way. I’ve totally exaggerated with the fairy lights (100 metres up, and I haven’t started on the palm trees yet), I’ve forced Mr. R&R to stir and make wishes on every mixture possible, even my morning tea (he’s now just wishing for a bit of bloody peace and quiet), and I’ve made my own mincemeat, candied peel, Christmas pud and Christmas cake. A yule log is coming and below are the mincepies. Phew.
I’m not trying to perfect a domestic goddess act, it’s just this complete mania that overcomes me. It’s as if I’m determined to make up for the absence of cold and a proper tree with an abundance of dried fruit and icing sugar snowdrifts.
Having said I’m not trying to do a domestic goddess, these mincepies are straight from Nigella, but they are everything I love about her best recipes: traditional without being twee, sweet but elegant and simple to produce (total girl crush). Bit late for most I guess, but for me these are obligatory for oohing and aaahing bystanders when turning on my Christmas lights for the first time.
Starry-eyed mincepies
From Nigella’s Christmas book
Makes about 16 normal sized mincepies (but YMMV)
- 240g plain flour
- 120g butter, cold
- 1 lemon or orange, juiced
- iced water
- pinch salt
- About 350g mincemeat (extra domestic glow points if it’s homemade)
Find a tin or two for mini-tarts, or (seemingly easier today) a shallowish muffin tin. You also need a round cutter, about 2 cm wider than the bottom of your tin’s indentations so the mincepies have a bit of a bowl for the filling but not too much (see the picture above). Also find a star-shaped cutter for the top bit (you can also just use a round one and join the edges all the way round but remember to cut little slits for the steam on top).
Make the pastry by cutting the cold butter into little pieces and putting it in a bowl with the flour. Chill in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Now process in a food processor until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs. Gradually add iced water mixed with the juice of the lemon or orange until it starts to clump together. You don’t need much, a few tablespoons, but go slowly. Tip onto a worksurface and quickly bring together into a coherent dough, trying not to overwork it. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
Grease the tin with butter and preheat the oven to 220˚C. Roll out the pastry quite thinly on a floured worktop – I’m terrible at rolling and even I managed this. Line the tins with shapes from the round cutter, fill with a teaspoon of mincemeat and top with star shapes. Reroll the pastry as needed.
Bake for about 20-25 minutes, but the size of your tins will determine this so keep an eye on them. Cool on wire racks as soon as they come out of the oven. I eat them warm with cream for preference, but room temp with icing sugar snow works too. Oh, and they freeze perfectly.
