Crumble Top Mince Pies Recipe

Mince Pies Recipe Baking with Christmas Elf An attentive Elfin leaning how to make mince pies.

Our Christmas Elf’s first taste of mince pies

Elfin our Christmas Elf watched my son make our first batch of mince pies this year with much interest.

He’d heard of mince pies but had never seen any – let alone tasted one. Father Christmas and the reindeer eat a huge amount of mince pies on Christmas Eve when they deliver presents. So much so that Father Christmas can’t bear setting his eyes on any more mince pies until the following Christmas Eve! Mince pies are banned in Lapland, so apart from the  travelling Elves, Santa and the Reindeer, no one – not even Mrs Claus has ever tasted a mince pie.

Elfin is keen to learn the recipe and bring it back to Mrs Claus – I am not sure what Santa will make of this!

Our crumble top mince pies recipe makes 12.

You will need the following ingredients:

For the filling

  •    225g mincemeat – we used a shop bought jar

For the pastry and crumble

  • 225g of plain flour
  • 100g of butter , chilled and cubed roughly
  • 3 tablespoons of light muscovado sugar
  • Grated zest and juice of one orange
  • 2 tablespoons of flaked almonds (optional)

Preparation

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6
  2. To make the pastry for your mince pies, tip the flour into a large bowl and rub in the chilled butter using your fingertips until the mixture looks crumbly. Stir in the sugar and the orange zest.
  3. Spoon out 4 tablespoons of the pastry mixture and set aside. Add approximately 4 tablespoons of orange juice to the main pastry bowl and mix to make a fairly soft dough, kneading gently until smooth. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
  4. Lightly flour a surface and roll out the pastry to a 3mm thickness. Using a 9cm round fluted cutter, stamp out 12 circles of pastry. Gently press these into the holes of a shallow buttered bun / pie tin, the pastry should slightly stick out above the top of the tin to allow for shrinkage during cooking. Spoon the mincemeat into the pastry cases – don’t overfill or you might end-up with a sticky mess.
  5. Sprinkle the pastry crumble mix over the mincemeat to cover lightly and top with a few flaked almonds.
  6. Bake the mince pies for 18-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and serve dusted with icing sugar.

…and the mince pies magically vanish!

I went out while the mince pies cooled. When I got ready to take a picture of the finished product later on; all the mince pies had disappeared. Naturally everyone blames the Elf… Not sure what to make of this. Do you think he could have eaten a dozen mince pies in one sitting? Or did he get help?

About Elfin (38 Articles)
Hi, I'm Elfin - Santa's chief Elf. Santa's wants me to tell you all about my Elf friends and the Christmas Elf Tradition. If you have any questions, just ask! I would love to hear from you and find out what your elves have been up to - so please leave your comments. Happy Elfing :)

2 Trackbacks & Pingbacks

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