We went a bit ‘freestyle’ with our baking adventure this week, making some puff pasty mince pies… “Why puff pastry?” we hear you ask? Well if puff is good enough for the magic dragon then it’s good enough for James’ mince pies!!
First we had to carefully cut out the bases of our pies with the pie cutters and put them in the pie tray. James did this very carefully and then helped put the mincemeat in, before cutting out the tops and placing them on top. Then it was time for James to channel his artistic talent, painting the tops of the pies with an egg wash.
James then supervised them going out to the kitchen to go into the oven. Dad put them in the oven, because as James remembers from ‘Big Cook, Little Cook’, the oven is ‘Hot! Hot! Hot!’
James’ Puff Pastry Mince Pies
You will need:
- A roll of pre-made puff pastry/shortcrust pastry (or you can make your own)
- A jar of mincemeat
- A large egg, beaten with some water to loosen into an egg wash
- Icing sugar to dust
- Pastry cutters
- A pie tray
Method:
Preheat oven to Fan 180, Conventional 190, Gas 5.
Roll out the puff pastry, and use the pastry cutters to cut out the bases (larger) and tops (smaller).
Put the bases in the pie tray.
Spoon mincemeat mixture in to your bases until 3/4 full.
Add the tops to the pies.
Wash lightly with the egg wash.
Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
Cool, dust with icing sugar, and eat! (Or, if you can’t wait to eat them, skip the icing sugar!!)
We got Christmas catering off to a flying start with our home made mince pies! Lots of fun to make, new skills to try out, and tasty treats to enjoy! We’ll definitely be trying these again (maybe with shortcrust pastry next time!!)
All text and images © Mark and James Arnold / The Additional Needs Bake Father
The Additional Needs Bakefather 