Chocolate Christmas Mince Pies

Who put the chocolate in the mince pies?

Anyone who knows me well will not be surprised that I have added chocolate to my mince pies this year! If I can adjust a recipe to accommodate chocolate I will and these pies turned out ten times better than I expected! It’s certainly worth making your own fruit mince for your Christmas tarts, the commercially bought tubs just don’t cut it, I find them too sugary instead of fruity but I am sure there are plenty deluxe versions if you rome the delis which are worth trying but then you will certainly pay the price. And this recipe is so easy, you just throw all the ingredients together and soak over night. The good thing about making your own is you can add whatever ingredients you like, chocolate for example.

The mince filling recipe below makes about 48 pies but the pastry will make about 24. You can store the fruit filling for several weeks and just whip up a fresh batch when you know visitors are coming.

Ingredients – fruit mince

2 tbs brown sugar
¼ cup brandy
1 small Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, coarsely grated
100g raisins, coarsely chopped
100g currants
100g sultanas
zest & juice of one small orange
(1/3 cup) breakfast marmalade
1/2 tsp mixed spice
50g 70% choc, chopped

Method

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.
Set aside, and soak over night, stir occasionally

Ingredients ?  pastry

110g Butter
180g flour
60g icing sugar
1 egg

Method

Preheat oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
Place the flour, butter & sugar in a bowl.
Work the ingredients together until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and bring dough together.
Rest dough in fridge for an hour before rolling out.
Roll the dough out thinly and use a cookie cutter that will fit your cupcake tins, making sure it is large enough to cup the filling.
Add about one heaped teaspoon per case and then cut out star shape out of the pastry for the lids.
Egg wash the star shaped pastry.
Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.