Mary Berry's mince pies

Mary Berry's mince piesMary Berry's mince pies
Prepare
less than 30 mins
Cook
10 to 30 mins
Serve
Serves 12

Mary Berry's mince pies will win any Christmas get-together. These Christmassy bites have delicious orangey pastry and grated marzipan on top that gives a wonderful flavour. Don't be nervous of making pastry – Mary's foolproof recipe will see you right.

For this recipe you will need a 12-hole bun tin and a 8cm/3in fluted pastry cutter.

By Mary Berry

From Mary Berry's Absolute Christmas Favourites

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Ingredients

For the pastry

For the filling

  • 250g/9oz good-quality ready-made mincemeat
  • 100g/3½oz ready-to-eat dried apricots, finely chopped (do this in a food processor if you're short on time)
  • 125g/4oz uncoloured marzipan, chilled and grated
Recipe tips
How-to videos

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6 and place a baking sheet inside to heat up.

  2. For the pastry, either pulse the flour and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, or rub the flour and butter together in a large bowl using your fingertips.

  3. Stir in the icing sugar and orange zest, then stir in the beaten egg and mix until the ingredients just come together as a dough. Wrap the dough in baking paper or cling film and chill in the fridge for 10–15 minutes, or until firm.

  4. When the pastry has rested, unwrap it. Place a large piece of baking paper on a work surface and lightly dust with icing sugar. Place the dough on top, dust with icing sugar, then cover with another sheet of baking paper. Roll the pastry between the sheets of paper to a thickness of 1–2mm. (If you are confident rolling out pastry you do not need to use the greaseproof paper, but it does help prevent the pastry tearing if the dough is a little sticky).

  5. Stamp 12 rounds from the pastry using a 8cm/3in fluted pastry cutter. (Any leftover pastry can be frozen and used to make jam tarts.) Line each hole of the bun tin with one of the pastry rounds and prick the base of each with a fork.

  6. For the filling, mix the mincemeat with the chopped apricots until well combined. Divide the mixture equally among the pastry cases. Top each tart with some of the grated marzipan.

  7. Slide the bun tin onto the hot baking sheet and bake in the oven for 12–15 minutes, or until golden-brown and crisp.

  8. Dust with icing sugar and serve warm.

Recipe tips

To give the tarts a stronger orange flavour, you could add half of the orange zest to the pastry and half to the filling.

Chill the marzipan in the fridge to make it easier to grate.

These mince pies can be make up to 3 days in advance and stored in an airtight container. They can also be wrapped in cling film and kitchen foil and frozen for up to 2 months.

Bun tins are shallower than muffin tins, if you use a muffin tin you will need a slightly larger pastry cutter (9–10cm/3½–4in) and the recipe will make fewer mince pies. Alternatively you can keep the pastry the same size, but be aware the holes won't be full and you'll need to position the pastry carefully to ensure the sides of the mince pies are even.

If dried apricots aren't your thing, you could use dried cranberries or cherries instead. Chopped eating apples are also nice.

It's best to let the mince pies cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Very hot pastry can be quite delicate.