Nothing says Christmas quite like Mince Pies, and now just because I’m vegan doesn’t mean I need to miss out! Having seen mincemeat sitting in the local supermarket, I decided I wanted to make my own for some perfect Christmas vegan mince pies.
In actuality, when I first saw the mincemeat I was just going to buy it and make some mince pies using that, but as Sam rightly said, that’s cheating. Making your own mincemeat from scratch is actually incredibly easy so there’s really no excuse. Even better, it keeps for ages, so you can make a big batch and save it and make fresh mince pies whenever you feel like it.
I can’t stress how easy it is to actually make this. You just throw everything together and leave it to soak, then place it in some pastry, bang it in the oven and you’e good to go. Seriously, you need to get on it.
These will keep in an air-tight container for about 5 days, if they last that long.
The mincemeat for this recipe will make more than the stated amount of mince pies, so either halve the recipe if you don’t want that much mincemeat or just leave in the fridge to keep for the future.
Vegan Christmas Mince Pies
Ingredients
- 1 large cooking apple
- 280g dried fruit mix (or make your own with a mix of sultanas, currants, raisins, mixed peel and glacé cherries)
- Juice and zest from 1 lemon
- Juice and zest from 1 orange
- 30ml dark rum
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp mixed spice
- 150g brown sugar
- 40g vegan butter, melted
- 2 sheets vegan shortcrust pastry (most frozen pastry will be vegan)
- 20ml non-dairy milk
- Parchment paper
Directions
- Step 1 Begin by finely chopping your apple into small pieces (no need to peel) and placing in a large bowl
- Step 2 Add all other ingredients and stir to combine
- Step 3 Cover and leave somewhere cool (not the fridge) overnight, stirring occasionally
- Step 4 If not using straight away, or keeping for another date, leave in the fridge in a jar or another air-tight container
- Step 5 Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees fan
- Step 6 Begin by preparing your cupcake tray. To help make it easier to remove the mince pies once they are cooked, cut 2 strips of parchment paper for each cupcake mould
- Step 7 Lay the parchment paper in a cross shape, ensuring that once the mince pies are in, there is parchment paper to hold onto (so you can easily lift them out!)
- Step 8 Next, take your thawed shortcrust pastry and cut out 8 large circles using a cookie cutter
- Step 9 Place each base into a mould and gently press down to ensure it sits tightly in the tray. Shortcrust pastry tends to shrink slightly once cooked so make sure that the cases are big enough
- Step 10 Next, fill each pastry case with mincemeat. Try to avoid getting in too much liquid as this can make the case go soggy
- Step 11 For the pastry top, cut out 9 large circles that are the same size as the mince pies
- Step 12 Using a star cutter, cut out a star from the middle
- Step 13 Place the pastry top over the mince pie and gently pinch the edges to secure
- Step 14 Lightly brush each pastry case with non-dairy milk
- Step 15 Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown
- Step 16 Allow to cool and then gently remove from the cupcake tray by lifting up the parchment paper
- Step 17 Serve!
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