Another festive GF Treat

Gluten Free Mini Mince Pies

I have a craving for pastry right now and as the sweet pastry for the tarts on the previous post worked well, I have played with it a little more to provide another lovely festive treat, it’s so buttery and light, you don’t even need to butter the tin and the addition of a small amount of gluten free plain flour makes the pastry crisp, you won’t be able to tell it’s gluten free, I promise.

If you are making these for people with gluten intolerances make sure you get gluten free mincemeat, or if you make your own, gluten free vegetable suet. My need for mince pies is great so I cheated a little and bought a good quality mincemeat to which I added a few extra goodies.
You will also need a cutter or an upturned glass and a mini muffin or bun tin and some clingfilm.

Ingredients

For the filling

400g or jar of good quality mincemeat
Zest and juice of 1 lemon and 1 orange
4 tbsp brandy
Handful of dried cranberries, roughly chopped
Small stick of cinnamon
1 star anise
Few grates of nutmeg

For the pastry

100g brown rice flour
100g cornmeal
75g plain gluten free flour
150g cold butter, cut into cubes
75g caster sugar
2 eggs, beaten
A little water to bring mix to a dough
Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
Golden caster sugar to sprinkle
2 tbsp milk

Method

• Put all the ingredients for the filling into a saucepan and bring to a simmer for 10 minutes. Leave to cool. This allows the fruit and juices to mingle and absorb the spices. Remove the whole spices when completely cool.
• Make the pastry. I use a food processor for speed but it can be mixed in a bowl. Add all the dry ingredients and add the cubed butter and mix to resemble breadcrumbs.
• Add the zest and mix in the beaten egg. Add water to bring the mix to a stiff dough. I found it easier to transfer the breadcrumb mix to a large mixing bowl before adding the water. The dough should be quite stiff. Wrap in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for at least an hour.
• In between two sheets of clingfilm, roll out the pastry until it is roughly 3mm thick and cut circles to fit base of the tin. It is quite delicate so lift carefully using a palette knife. Add to the tin, it may break a little but can be patched very easily due to the butter content.
• Place in an oven heated to 180 degrees for 5 minutes to start to firm up the pastry.
• Remove from the oven and fill each case with a teaspoon of filling. Using a pastry brush, wet the edges of each pie with milk and add a pastry top. (You will need a slightly smaller cutter for this, I use a shot glass)
• Gently press the tops onto each pie, brush with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar. I added a little edible silver glitter as it’s Christmas.
• Place back in the oven for 8 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
• This recipe made 28 mince pies but this will vary depending on your tin size, you may also need to adjust the cooking time to about 15 minutes for the final cook if you make regular sized pies.
• Serve with lashings of cream, delicious hot or cold.