Fruit Mince Pies

Description

This fruit mince pies recipe is a pure classic dessert with a blend of fruits and flaky butter crust pastry. The hints of cinnamon and nutmeg makes this dessert delightful. You can serve it with cream or custard to add extra flavor and texture to this dessert.

Instructions

1. Rinse al the dried fruits in hot water and allow to dry, spread out on a clean tea towel. This may take an hour or so, and you can change the tea towel if necessary.
2. Combine the dried fruit, glace fruit, apple, sugar, spices, zest, juice and brandy in a medium bowl. Mix well, cover and place in the fridge for up to 24 hours for the flavors to develop.
3. The fruit mixture can be packed into sterilized jars or containers, sealed and kept in the fridge for up to 6 months.
4. To make the pate sablee, place the flour, butter, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and mix for a minute to incorporate. Add the yolks and mix until the pastry just comes together. Turn out onto the bench and knead to just bring the pastry together into an even soft ball. Wrap with plastic film and refrigerate for about 1 hour or until the pastry is firm enough to roll comfortably. Return the pastry to the fridge if it gets soft and tricky to handle.
5. Preheat the oven to 180 degree C fan-forced (200 degree C conventional). Lightly butter two 12-hole round based patty pan trays, medium (1/3 cup/80ml capacity) muffin trays or 24 small tartlet tins. You may need to work in batches if you don’t have enough tins.
6. Stir the melted butter into the fruit mixture.
7. Divide the pastry into two portions, one slightly larger than the other. Roll out the pastry to about 3 mm thick and cut use a 7.5cm round cutter to cut out 24 rounds of pastry from the larger amount, rerolling the pastry as necessary. Place the pastry rounds into the prepared tins, pressing down gently. Use a 6cm star cutter to cut 24 stars from the remaining pastry and set aside. Fill each pastry case with 1 tablespoon of fruit mince, top with a star and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
8. Brush each pie lightly with egg white and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown and cooled through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 15-20 minutes before carefully removing the pies from the tins. Dust lightly with icing sugar and serve warm or leave to cool.