Eddingtons Traditional Mince Pie Pan,Grey

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Ensure your mince pies are beautifully baked and presented in our strong but lightweight aluminium Mince Pie Foil Cases. In addition to being oven safe they are also perfect for freezing if you’re batch-baking in advance for Christmas parties meaning you can cook, freeze and reheat all in the same case. If you want your shop-bought mince pies to create a real wow factor with your guests, try some of the following ideas. Mulled wine, port, hot chocolate (family-friendly or with a splash of rum), sloe or damson gin are always well received with mince pies – as is a nice cup of refreshing Earl Grey tea. I prefer mine served with clotted cream or Cumberland rum butter – a combination of dark brown muscovado sugar, butter, rum and a hint of nutmeg. Place the flour, sugar, almonds and butter in a food processor and process briefly until resembling breadcrumbs, then slowly add the egg through the feeder tube. (Or rub the butter into the dry ingredients by hand and stir in the egg.) To make the pastry, place the flour and salt in a food processor and add the butter. Using the pulse function, whizz until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and pulse again to mix. Add the beaten egg mixture and pulse briefly to mix to a rough dough. Nowadays, the classic mincemeat ingredients are a lot sweeter and include a variety of fruits such as apples, dried raisins, lemon, currants and brandy. But like all long-serving recipes, they can be open for interpretation. Here are some tasty additions to jazz up your shop bought mincemeat...

Lightly butter a 12-hole pie or patty tin. Tip the mincemeat into a bowl and stir so that the liquid is evenly distributed. You want to get your pastry thin enough to cut out the 24 shapes you are going to need. Try and roll the pastry big enough so you can cut as many of the shapes for your mince pies out in one sitting. If you run out you'll have to screw the remaining pastry up into a ball and re-roll it. But any re-rolling isn't great for your pastry's health, so try and avoid it. 6. Cut out 12 circles Top with frangipane, smooth and sprinkle with flaked almonds and then a tablespoon of castor sugar. If you’re a mince pie novice then you’ve come to the right place. Our food editor has opened up her recipe book and given you access to the simplest step-by-step guide there is. But some bakers now also use puff pastry for their pies. The main difference is the fat content (puff pastry has more fat) and how simple it is to prepare. Puff pastry requires the baker to layer butter into the pastry to allow for puffing, thus creating a lighter, flakier casing. That's why many at-home cooks tend to buy shop-bought puff pastry rather than making their own.Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. To make the sweet pastry, rub the flour, butter, sugar and egg together with a splash of cold water until it just comes together as a dough. Do not over work the dough. Wrap the pastry in cling film and set aside to chill in the fridge while you make the filling. We talked to our food editors to find out what their top tips were for mince pie pastry additions. Suggestions included lard in the pastry, marzipan balls and icing sugar in the flour. But our favourite was tangerine rind. This citrus twist tastes delicious and makes for a ‘zingy outer shell’. The mince pie filling Over the years the core ingredients of the mince pie have been tested, altered and adjusted. One of these interchangeable ingredients is the pastry casing. These deep and crumbly mince pies are so simple and delicious. The secret to Paul's mince pie recipe is to jazz up shop-bought mincemeat with a little extra fruit and zest. (No soggy bottoms, please.) For the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl, add the softened butter, icing sugar and orange zest and gently incorporate with your hands until the mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg yolks and then add 2-3 tablespoons of water to help bring it together. Squeeze the pastry together gently until you have a soft ball of pastry. Flatten to a disc, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

With a fluted pastry cutter, cut out 6 x 8cm/3¼ in pastry circles for the lids (slightly bigger than the top of the muffin cups). Place a lid on top of each pie and gently push down. Sprinkle with caster sugar. Rub your fat and flour together with your fingertips until they become crumbs. Add in the rest of the pastry ingredients and mix to a firm dough. You might need to add a splash or two of water as per above. Bake at 180C/fan oven 170C/gas mark 4 for 30-40 minutes, cool slightly and serve with a dusting of icing sugar, or with rum butter and vanilla ice cream. If making the pastry by hand, put the flour into a large bowl. Grate in the butter using the coarse grater blade on a box grater. Coat the butter in the flour by lightly mixing it with your fingers. Using your fingertips, lightly rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Stir in the caster sugar and salt. Using a table knife, stir in the beaten egg mixture to make a rough dough, then turn out onto a lightly floured board and bring together into a ball. Wrap and rest in the fridge as above. This is known as leaving your pastry to rest. You do it to try and minimise the pastry in your baking tins from shrinking once you cook it. You can simply leave it in the bowl and pop it into the fridge. 5. Lightly flour table top and roll pastry out on itMake sure you follow the reheating instructions on the box. Of course, you could always simply dust them with icing sugar and serve with a sprig of holly, while throwing another log on the fire and listening to Silent Night... Add the water splash by splash until you get dough. The amount of water needed will depend on the type of flour and fat used, so just add a little each time. You can stir it with a spatula to start with, but as it gets wetter you'll want to get your hands in to gather the ball of pastry together.

Taken from the method she used to bake traditional pies when she was still in school, this recipe can be followed by everyone. To make sure everyone can enjoy their best version of a mince pie we have also tested the shop-bought gluten-free mince pies on offer in the supermarkets. Our food experts have informed us that they have improved since previous years. So, if you still don’t want to get your bake on, then take a look our gluten-free mince pie Best Buys. How to get the best from your mince pies Dan Lepard, award-winning baker and Which? expert Paul’s recipe steers a little more away from your classic pie but is equally delicious. Adding a frangipane pastry to the top of the mincemeat not only offers an alternative taste but also makes the casing look a little more delicate.Keep collections to yourself or inspire other shoppers! Keep in mind that anyone can view public collections - they may also appear in recommendations and other places. The queen of baking, Mary Berry, likes to add cranberry to her recipe. Not too out of the ordinary but it will really make a difference. Adding a dollop of cranberry jam underneath the mincemeat gives your pies ‘a seasonal bite’. Using classic ‘mincemeat’, which consists of fruit and spices and then encased with a buttery shortcrust pastry, these treats are sure to not go to waste. Make sure your hands are nice and cold when you're rubbing in the fat with the flour by running very cold water over the pulse points in your wrists. 3. Add icy cold water

Typically baked with a shortcrust pastry, the mince pie as most of us know it has a slightly biscuit like, crumbly texture and is pretty sturdy. Shortcrust is the easiest to make, too – see our recipe above. Using the uncooked pastry shells, evenly apply around 400g mincemeat for the large tart or 50g to individual tarts and smooth the top. Bring the mixture together with your hands, wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour or so. Thinly roll out the pastry on a floured surface. Cut out 12 circles with a fluted pastry cutter, large enough to fill the base of the prepared tin. Press gently into each hole, then fill with the mincemeat. Chocolate - If you really want to experiment then try stirring in a little grated chocolate or melting it into the mincemeat. While you’re baking your pies do keep an eye on them. There are plenty of oven variables that can affect how your food is cooked. Through our rigorous oven lab tests we found that some models don’t evenly spread heat as you’d hope, causing uneven browning. If so, try rotating the baking tray a couple times while cooking.Brush the lids with beaten egg and then use a small knife or skewer to make a slit in the top of each pie. Sprinkle with demerara sugar and then transfer the tray to the fridge for 30 minutes. To create these mince pies you will need a food processor. Make sure you get the ultimate mince pie by using the ultimate product - find out which are the best food processors. Paul Hollywood's frangipane mince pies Over-fill your pies and you'll end up with mincemeat that leaks over the top of the pastry and turns into hard, burned bits on your pie tin. 8. Brush each top with a little milk They don’t have a traditional tree as it’s summer but she hangs her collection of oddball ornaments around their apartment and it makes them smile and think of home 😆