Chestnut and apple mince pies
This old Scottish recipe brings together the chestnuts from the trees around Joe’s forge and the mincemeat that went into Mrs. Joe’s ‘handsome mincepie,’ made before Pip stole the leftovers for Magwitch in Great Expectations. The Cratchit family also enjoy the tradition of roasting chestnuts on the fire at Christmas, but the English have never got into the habit of cooking with them. The chestnut paste lightens the mix and gives a delightful toffee-ish taste.
SERVES 12
500g of ready-made
● shortcrust pastry, or pastry made with 350g of plain flour, 175g of fat, and 1 egg yolk Beaten egg or milk
● FOR THE MINCEMEAT
1 large cooking apple,
● peeled, cored and finely chopped (approx. 200g) 200g of cooked
● chestnuts, finely chopped 80g of dark soft
●
brown sugar 1 tsp of ground
●
cinnamon 2 tbsps of brandy
●
Zest of an orange
●
or clementine 180g of mixed raisins,
●
currants, and sultanas 60g of mixed peel
●
100g of suet
● Preheat the oven to 400°F/200°C/GAS mark 6. 1 To make the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a large bowl. Cut the cold butter into the flour using a knife, making the pieces as small as possible, then stir until every piece is coated with flour. Using your fingertips, rub the fat into the flour until it is no longer visible. Add two tablespoons of iced water to the egg yolk, and stir this into the flour. Mix with the blade of a knife, adding a little more cold water to make it into a stiff paste. Bring it together with your hands, touching it as little as possible. Form into a ball, cover with clingfilm, and chill in the fridge for 20–30 minutes or until ready to use.
2 To make the mincemeat, cook the apple, chestnuts, and sugar together in a very little water for 15–20 minutes until soft and toffee-ish. Purée them together with the cinnamon, brandy and orange zest. Adjust the flavourings to taste. Mix in the dried fruit and suet. (If you are keeping your mincemeat, let the mixture cool before adding the suet, so it doesn’t melt.)
3 Roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick, and cut into rounds of about 10cm to line muffin trays. Fill each pastry case with mincemeat, packing down the mixture.
4 Roll out the remaining pastry and cut into rounds of about 8cm to form the lids. Crimp them together and seal with beaten egg or milk. Decorate the tops (or replace the lids) with holly leaves, stars, angels, or bells, cut from the pastry trimmings, then brush the surface with beaten egg or milk.
5 Bake in the preheated oven for about 15–20 minutes until the pastry is golden.