Gloverly Cupcakes

This years build up to Christmas is going so fast we haven’t even blogged about any Christmas baking yet! That doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy doing lots. I’ve done 2 Christmas cakes and tried some new Christmassy recipes this week, so keep an eye out for photos and recipes coming soon. It wouldn’t be Christmas without Mince pies and this year I thought I would try something new, click

I had seen this recipe some time ago on Pinterest and thought that this year I would give it a go. It’s from Sainsbury’s Magazine and I really enjoy making recipes from the magazine so decided this would be a good break from tradition. The recipe can be found here.

It was really easy to do and looked really pretty with the fanned out Apple and cranberries on top. Here’s the recipe:

400g shortcrust pastry

85g soft butter

50g dark muscovado sugar

75g golden syrup

40g black treacle

100g self-raising flour, plus extra for rolling out

a few drops of vanilla extract

2 medium eggs, at room temperature

1 ball stem ginger in syrup, drained and finely chopped, and 2 tbsp stem ginger syrup

1 x 411g jar mincemeat

2 red-skinned apples, cored and sliced

at least 24 cranberries

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and using a fluted cookie cutter – about 9cm in diameter – stamp out rounds to line the holes of two x 12-hole muffin tins – the pastry won’t come to the rim of the holes. Chill for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.

For the sticky toffee pudding filling, put the soft butter, sugar, golden syrup, treacle, flour, vanilla extract and eggs in a mixer and whisk to combine. Stir in the finely chopped stem ginger.

Divide the mincemeat between the pastry shells, then top with the toffee filling mix.

Tip
If you want to make one big mince pie to serve 10-12, use 250g pastry (the rest of the ingredients are the same) and a 20-23cm fluted tin that’s 3-4cm deep. Bake the tart for 1 hour, covering it with foil towards the end of the time if it is getting too brown.

Finish each mince pie with a 2-3 apple slices and a cranberry or two, gently pushing them down into the mixture, and bake the mince pies for 20-25 minutes or until risen and lightly golden.

Lightly brush or drizzle the tops of the pies with stem ginger syrup; serve warm.