I love Christmas. I can’t stress that enough – I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!
From amazing smells coming from the kitchen to excited children running through the house, putting carrots out for the reindeer and writing almost illegible notes to Santa, I just love it all.
12 Days of Christmas Cooking
I’m so excited to kick off my 12 Days of Christmas Cooking with a revamped recipe from my childhood – Christmas Mince Pies. I never really liked Minced Pies – the thought of biting into a sultana sent shivers down my spine. However, as an adult, I’ve changed it up a bit to make it a bit more my style.
I’ve added some Chocolate Port, figs and some dark chocolate for a more sophisticated taste. And of course, I’ve left out the sultanas.
You can make these the easy way or the [little bit] harder way – it’s totally up to you. I love being in the kitchen so I’ve made my mince from scratch but you can take a more relaxed approach to Christmas and buy your mince already made. All you need to do then is add a few more ingredients to make it that little bit special.
Mince Pies aren’t hard but they can be expensive. All the different types of dried fruit can add up. To make it a bit more economical, use a store bought fruit mince. Then just add a few special ingredients – dark chocolate, figs and Chocolate Port – to jazz it up.
You can also use store bought frozen short crust pastry or you can make your own. Here’s a great recipe from Paula at Vintage Kitchen, along with some useful tips, if you want to make your own short crust pastry. It was a bit too hot today for pastry making so I have opted for a frozen pastry.
I used a mini tart tray, which you can get here as these are very rich but you can make them bigger if you like. They will need a little longer in the oven if they’re a bit bigger.
Fig and Dark Chocolate Port Mince Pies
Equipment
- Food Processor (Optional)
- Tart Tray
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Cutting Board and Knife
- Citrus Juicer (optional)
Ingredients
- ¼ cup mixed peel
- 100 g dried cranberries
- 200 g currents
- 1 ½ cups dried figs roughly chopped
- ¼ cup ground almonds
- 2 granny smith apples grated
- 1 lemon zest and juice
- 200 g dark chocolate, roughly chopped I used 70%
- ⅓ cup crystallised ginger roughly chopped
- 200 g raisins
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ½ tsp mixed spice
- 4 tbsp Chocolate Port I used Chalmers Tawny Port – Original Chocolate
- 6 sheets frozen short crust pastry or make your own
- icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C (165° fan forced, 350°F)
- Take pastry sheets from the freezer to defrost
- Add the first 16 ingredients to the bowl of a food processor (I did it in 2 batches) and blitz on low speed for 30 seconds
- Using a cookie cutter which is bigger than your tart case, cut 36 circles for the base of your tarts. Using a smaller star shaped cutter, cut 36 stars for the tops of your tarts
- Press the cut circles or pastry into the tart cases, which have been lightly oiled.
- Fill each tart case with mince filling until almost at the top and press down slightly
- Place a star of pastry on top of each tart and press down slightly on the edges to join to the tart base.
- Bake for 15 minutes for mini pies (or 20 minutes for larger ones)
- Allow to cool on a wire rack
- When ready to eat, dust with some icing sugar and enjoy!
Notes
My favourite Christmas treat to make! So delish and easy to understand! Thanks Nana!! 😉
No problems. I’m glad you enjoyed it.