These Homemade Christmas Fruit Mince Pies are absolutely delicious, I have given them a bit of a makeover with added flavours of citrus and nuts for a divine texture. You will love these!
I love baking with my Grandma’s recipes, it brings back such wonderful memories of her and reminds me of what a fabulous cook she was! When I was thinking of the recipe for this blog post I could not go past using her shortcake recipe which partners perfectly with the gorgeous fruit mix plus of course a few amendments of my own – I can hardly ever just leave a recipe alone, I always want to add a few elements!
The base pastry for this recipe comes from a very popular treat on my site for Apple Shortcake, it is absolutely delicious. Buttery, crumbly, easy and versatile. The simplicity of this shortcrust pastry went beautifully with the strong flavours of the fruit mince.
To give my recipe a little twist and some more texture I have added both almonds and cashews and a dash of fresh orange zest. These additions do not take away from the gorgeous rich deep flavours of the fruit mince, but add some extra elements that bring it all to life!
I could add orange zest to just about everything, it is one of my favourite flavours, in fact if you wanted something a bit more special again you could always add it to the pastry base!
Making the pastry is not hard, but you do need to plan ahead a little as the dough needs to chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour. But after that you will have a wonderful end product that is so easy to use and handle. And for all of you thinking that you can simply buy pre-made cases or ready made pastry, I know I know…..but this way you get to feel so much more virtuous and it tastes SO much better!!
As I mentioned above I used both almonds and cashews, I loved that these were both unsalted so perfect for baking. We use so many of these products in baking and salads. Yum!
So onto the recipe, since the fruit mince is already made for you, it is all down to making the pastry then gathering your tools for creating the cases. It is actually really fun and simple. I made mini mince pies, using my mini muffin tins. So for that I used a 7.5cm cookie cutter (3 inches) and a 4.5cm (1.5 inch) star cutter for the tops.
You may add more or less nuts, and more or less zest depending on personal preference. The 500 gram pottle of Fruit Mince, and the pastry made 30 mini pies, so it goes a long way! If you wanted you could make the pastry even thinner than I have.
I adore all the Christmas Recipes and now have over 40 on my blog! Everything from cookies, rocky road, puddings and gifts.
Here are a few popular ones, simply click through to see any you like the look of!
Cookie Christmas Trees
The Best Ever Chocolate Rocky Road
Layered Ice Cream Pudding
Mascarpone Trifle (My personal favourite!)
Rocky Road Chocolate Brownie
Tim Tam Truffles
Gingerbread Men
Christmas Pudding Bliss Balls
Christmas Pudding Bliss Balls
And here is the recipe! I have amended the original slightly as it includes cream of tartar which not everyone has on hand, but if you do then check out the Apple Shortcake recipe on my blog.
Enjoy this recipe for Homemade Christmas Fruit Mince Pies
Homemade Christmas Fruit Mince Pies
This recipe makes 30 mini fruit mince pies, if you do not need that many you can store and even freeze this dough and the fruit mince will keep well too!
Ingredients
PieCrust
- 170 Grams Butter, Room Temperature
- 1 Cup White Sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 3 Cups Plain White Flour
- 3 teaspoons Baking Powder
Fruit Mince Filling
- 1 x 500 gram Tub of Fruit Mince
- 1/2 Cup Almonds
- 1/2 Cup Cashews
- Zest of Two Oranges, washed and finely grated or zested
Instructions
Pastry
- In a large mixer bowl add the room temperature butter and sugar and begin to cream the mixture, until it is pale and fluffy (approx 4 minutes)
- Add the eggs and combine well for a further minute
- Combine the flour and baking powder and add this to the bowl and continue to mix until the mixture begins to come away from the sides of the bowl.
- Lay out a sheet of plastic food wrap and tip the ingredients onto this, create an oval and fully wrap in the plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Filling
- While the pastry is chilling prepare the Fruit Mince Filling, pour the Fruit Mince into a medium bowl, chop the Almonds & Cashews into tiny to medium pieces, and zest the oranges.
- Combine all ingredients together and set aside.
Pastry Cases
- Preheat Oven to 180C (355F)
- Prepare mini muffin trays with liberal amounts of cooking spray and set aside.
- Once the dough has chilled remove from the fridge and set up your bench with all the tools you will need, a rolling pin, 7.5cm cookie cutter, star cutter, flour, and a teaspoon.
- Sprinkle flour on the bench and break off a cup sized chunk of the dough, knead it gently until it is more pliable and comes together and with a floured rolling pin begin to roll the dough until it is approx 3mm thick.
- Take the cookie cutter and cut the dough, then transfer this to the mini muffin tray, slightly draw together the edges of the circle and gently lower it onto the tin and press down around the base and sides with your fingertips.
- Repeat until your tray is full. You can combine the scraps to form more dough and take more from the original batch as needed.
- Add one teaspoon sized amounts of Fruit Mince filling into each case.
- Again knead and roll out a cup sized ball of dough and using the star cutter create lids for the mini mince pies.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, until they appear golden in colour, I always gently lift one pie out to check the base has coloured also.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tin then gently transfer to a wire rack - they should slide out using a knife on one edge to lift them.
- Allow to completely cool on a wire rack, then dust with icing sugar to serve.
- Merry Christmas & Enjoy!
The house simply smelt of Christmas! Whether you are a lover of Christmas Fruit Mince Pies or not they are an absolute tradition at this time of year. I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did. I think the addition of nuts gave it such a lovely taste and texture.
Thank you so much for stopping by to check out this recipe. Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Instagram for more deliciousness.
Happy Baking!
Anna
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Maria Boyd says
Yum, these are something my mum and Grandma used to make.
Carolyn Abraham says
i am going home to make these tonight
justamumnz says
Great!! The dough has to chill for a bit so factor that into the timing ? Let me know how you get on
Lara says
Have you ever made them without adding the zest and nuts?
justamumnz says
Yes, the Fruit Mince is lovely on its own. It’s got every thing in it you need. I just can’t help adding a little bit of extra to my recipes ?
Lynette says
Another great idea, loved that you used your family pastry recipe. Tastes fabulous
justamumnz says
Thank you xox
Lisa watson says
I’m going to try these they look extra yummy.Thanks for all of you fantastic recipes.
justamumnz says
You are welcome! I hope you enjoy them ?