We haven’t managed as much Christmas baking this year, but I did make a few Christmas goodies this week for Emily’s nursery. I had a lot of homemade mincemeat to use and decided to make a mince pie alternative. Click
The recipe was from last year’s Sainsbury’s magazine.
For the pastry:
250 g plain flour
125 g unsalted butter, in pieces
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
For the filling and topping:
1 egg white
1 tbsp caster sugar
24 cranberries
100 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
100 g soft butter
175 g light muscovado sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
100 g plain flour, sifted
250 g mincemeat
300 ml double cream
1 orange, zested, to finish
- For the pastry, mix the plain flour, unsalted butter and icing sugar in an electric mixer, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Briefly mix in the lightly beaten egg. When the pastry comes together, tip on to the surface and bring it together in a ball. Press the ball into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, beat the egg white until lightly frothy and spread 1 tbsp caster sugar out in a saucer. Dip the cranberries, one by one, in the egg white, then roll in the sugar to ‘frost’ them. Leave to dry.
- Roll out the pastry on a floured surface. Use a fluted 9cm cookie cutter to stamp out rounds to line the holes of 2 x 12-hole muffin tins. Chill for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.
- For the filling, melt the dark chocolate. Mix the butter and light muscovado sugar in an electric mixer to combine. Gradually add the lightly beaten eggs, still mixing. Tip in the sifted plain flour and the slightly cooled melted chocolate. Mix until combined. Fold in 250g mincemeat.
- Put a spoonful of the filling into each pastry case. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Leave the pies to cool in the tins for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
- Whip the double cream with orange zest to top the cold pies; add the frosted cranberries.
I ended up with a bit of extra brownie mixture so I made some mini heart shaped brownie cakes with the left overs. They are a great alternative and perfect for chocolate lovers!
Gloverly Cupcakes 
Looks too yummy 🙂