Frangipane Mince PIes are a lovely variation on the more traditional version and has a pastry on the top. Frangipane is made with almonds and it forms a lovely crust. It is the basis of many versions of Bakewell Tart. But it also works very well for these mince pies.
Mince Pies, as you will probably know, are a big favourite at Christmas Time. They have a rich, buttery pastry a sweet mincemeat.
For this recipe I used a bun tin, or fairy cake tin. But a muffin tin could be utilised instead, with the pastry only half way up the side of the cups.
The recipe is very simple indeed. Make some pastry. Make some Frangipane. Assemble both with mincemeat in the middle. Then just bake the tarts. What could be easier?
My Bake
My tarts baked for 21 minutes. 20 minutes would certainly have been fine, but I wanted just a little more colour on the top for mine.
They tasted so good too. The rich pastry and the sweet mincemeat complemented by the lovely frangipane with an almond flavour.
These are great served hot or warm, with some cream or ice-cream, or just at room temperature, with a nice cup of tea.
Another great version of mince pies is Deep Filled Mince PIes – For Christmas.
Frangipane Mince Pies
Course: Christmas, PastriesCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium12
servings30
minutes20
minutesIngredients
- Pastry
150g(1 cup, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
16g(2 tbsp) icing sugar
75g((5 tbsp+1 tsp) cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 medium egg(large USA)
pinch of salt
10ml (2 tsp) water, if needed.
- Frangipane Top
56g(1/4 cup) softened unsalted butter
60g(1/4 cups + 2 tsp)caster sugar
56g(1/2 cup) ground almonds
1/2 medium egg(large USA)
2.5 ml(1.2 tsp) almond extract
- Filling
250ml(1 cup) mincemeat
Directions
- Grease the cups of a bun tin or fairy cake tin. ( a muffin pan could be used, but each cup only half filled)
- Place the flour, salt and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor, together with the butter, then pulse it until the mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add the half of medium egg and process until the mixture begins to clump, adding water a little at a time, if needed. You may not need any water, or not all of it.
- Place the mixture onto some plastic wrap and form the dough into a disc.
- Roll out the pastry to a thickness of 1/4 inch.
- Fold the plastic wrap over the rolled out pastry and place it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/170C Fan/375F.
- In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar together.
- Add the half of medium egg and the almond extract and beat to combine.
- Stir in the ground almonds. Set the mixture aside.
- Cut out rounds from the chilled pastry, 8cm(3 inches) in diameter and gently place them into the cups of the bun pan. Re-roll the left over pastry to make the 12 discs needed for the pan.
- Put one tablespoon of mincemeat into each cup of the pan, and level it.
- Spoon a scant tablespoon of almond mixture onto the mincemeat and spread it over, it doesn’t need to be neat. Don’t be tempted to use too much of the almond mixture as it spreads in the oven and will easily overflow out of the pastry.
- Bake the mince pies for 20 minutes until the frangipane has risen and coloured nicely.
- Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Dust with a little icing sugar if desired.