Mini Mince Pie Puffs Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What pastry are mince pies made from? ›

Mincemeat encased in Jus-Rol shortcrust pastry – the perfect Christmas recipe.

Only fill your pastry cases with about 2-3 teaspoons of mincemeat, if they are overfilled the mincemeat will bubble over and stick to the tin making it difficult to remove your baked mince pies.

Top the pies with their lids, pressing the edges gently together to seal – you don't need to seal them with milk or egg as they will stick on their own.

A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in North America, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the Christmas season in much of the English-speaking world.

We all love munching on mince pies but have you ever wondered why their filling is called 'mincemeat' even though there's no meat in it? This is because long ago mince pies actually did have meat in them. They went by different names like 'mutton pie,' 'shrid pie,' or 'Christmas pie. '

The reason mincemeat is called meat is because that's exactly what it used to be: most often mutton, but also beef, rabbit, pork or game. Mince pies were first served in the early middle ages, and the pies were quite sizeable, filled with a mixture of finely minced meat, chopped up fruit and a preserving liquid.

Prebake your crust

Prebaking provides insurance against soggy bottoms during a low and slow bake, which custard pies demand.” A preheated baking stone helps your pies brown on the bottom.

In a pie crust that bakes with the filling inside, the filling serves as the pie weight. For pre-baked crusts that bake without any filling, pie weights prevent them from bubbling up in the oven. To use pie weights with a flaky pie crust: Crinkle a piece of parchment paper up into a ball, then un-wrinkle it.

Too much water will make your pastry tough and not enough will mean that your pastry will be crumbly and difficult to roll out. Tip the pastry out of the bowl and gently bring it all together into a smooth ball (do not knead it as you will make it tough – remember the gluten!)

Enveloped in tasty pastry, succulent mince pies were the automatic choice for Santa. After all, they were just enough for one or two bites and he had a lot of houses to visit overnight, so there were a lot of mince pies to eat!

Why do my mince pies stick to the tin? ›

Grease the holes and also grease around the edges as this is where the pies are most likely to stick. Wait until the pies have cooled slightly before removing from the tray. Take them out before they go properly cold.

Bake the mince pies in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Leave the mince pies to cool in tthe tin for 10 minutes, and then carefully remove to cool fully.

Mince pies = eyes

This is a term used widely in London even to this day, usually to describe a girl's features. Her eyes would be described as Minces, an even more slang term from the original mince pies.

That's the beauty of them! A good mince pie is a delicately spiced, sumptuously light fruit filling encased in a buttery, crumbly crust. They're like souffles in that they're incredibly easy to do badly, but when baked properly they are a gustatory delight!

A mince pie is a sweet pie made with dried fruits and spices and, usually, encased in either a rich shortcrust or flaky pastry case. A Scotch Pie is a savoury pie made with, usually, minced mutton and spices and put in a hot water crust pastry shell.

If you are making a pie with a crust you'll need to decide which type of pastry to go for. Shortcrust pastry is the best for pies that fully encase a filling as they tend to be firmer and less likely to leak. Puff pastry is great if you prefer just a pastry lid on top of the filling.

Shortcrust in particular works best for a pie which has a pastry top and bottom, as it can stand up to the wet filling being placed on top. Puff pastry is slightly more complicated - the aim of the game is lamination, or layers! The end result is a delicious flaky pastry with a fantastic buttery taste.

The great Australian Meat Pie!! Shortcrust pastry filled with slow cooked chunky pieces of beef in a rich gravy topped with golden puff pastry, this meat pie recipe requires patience but you will be regarded as a bloody legend by everybody fortunate enough to try one!

One of the major differences between the two is the consistency of the crust. While pie crusts are very flaky and light, tart crusts or pastry crusts, tend to be firm and crumbly and not at all flaky.