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In the cold months of winter, nestling up inside with a treat become a habit.
At breakfast I think about lunch, and while wandering the streets of a cozy english countryside village I dream of finding the perfect little cafe to warm my hands and enjoy a warm treat.
My english gentleman took me to a charming village called Sherborne, where we hunted for antiques and perused the local christmas market, before finding a gem of a cafe that one of his sister´s had suggested for us.
Oliver´s in Sherborne was where I for the first time had mince pie and mulled wine, I know, where have been the past 20 years! Sleeping under a rock for sure:)
Did you know that mince pies have been eaten as part of a traditional British Christmas since the 16th century.
Back then they were made of meat but are now made with sweet mincemeat; a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, spices and brandy.
This is my take on this great English Christmas treat made with blackcurrants cordial and mango among the more traditional ingredients.
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Ingredients
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(Makes 12 mince pies)
Pastry
170g all purpose flour
100g salted butter
1tbsp sugar
1/2 cinnamon
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Mincemeat
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140g semi dried apricot, diced
80g semi-dried figs diced
100g roasted walnuts
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon,
1/2 grated nutmeg
1 Orange zest and juice
3 tbsp Chia seed (optional)
1 banana chopped
A small handful of dried mango
3 tbsp gløgg, blackcurrants cordial (or brandy)
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Directions
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Pastry
Place the flour, butter and salt into a large bowl.
Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
Add cold water a teaspoon at a time until the mixture binds, about 3 tbsp.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.
You can also make the dough in a food processor by mixing the flour, butter and salt in the bowl of the processor on a pulse setting. When the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, add water a tbsp at a time until the dough comes together in a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill as mentioned above.
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Mincemeat
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Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and roast the walnuts on a baking tray for about 10 min, before taking them out.
Leave them to cool on a kitchen towel for some minutes and gently rub the walnuts with the towel rolled into a ball to get the dark shell off the nuts.
Pick out the nuts and add them to the food processor.
Turn off the oven.
In a food processor on pulse add all the fruit and nuts.
Then add the liquid.
Have the food processor on plus only until the ingredients are mixed and chopped a bit, but avoid keeping it running till it´s a porridge, you want small chunks. About 1 min depending on how rough you chopped the dry fruit.
Butter up a 12-hole bun tin to make sure the pies don´t stick.
Preheat the oven to 190 degrees while sprinkling some flour on a surface and rolling out the dough till its about as thick as a pound or two quarters on top of each other.
Use a small glass or cup to cut out 12 pie bottoms/discs, or use a ca 7cm cutter.
Then cut 12 small stars or hearts from the rest of the dough with small cookie cutters or cut out from paper and cut with a knife around the paper cut-outs on the dough.
I usually skip the top lids on the pies and go straight for the decoration in the shape of a star or a heart. That way you can see a bit of the mincemeat peaking through on the sides when you place the star on top of the small pies.
However, if you want, cut 12, 6 cm discs that are half as thick as the bottom discs, like on quarter or a normal coin in thickness, and place on top as a lid on the pies before you add the star or heart decorations.
Bake in the middle of the oven for about 10 min on 190 degrees, or until a shy golden color appears.
Let the pies cool on a wire rack before serving them lukewarm with a wee sprinkle of icing sugar and hot mulled wine or gløgg.
Enjoy!
Here´s a little video clip from our delicious sweets feast at Oliver´s in Sherborne.
Did you notice the deliciously dark carrot cake in the video?
It was a real treat filled with fruit and nuts in addition to carrots.
Coming up soon is my take on recreating this sultry dark carrot dessert.
Happy Holidays!
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