11174 Where Do You Get Your Favorite Mince Pies???

Nothing beats home made - hot from the oven, with a dusting of icing sugar.

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With brandy butter Alan???

[quote=Sally Donaldson;105580]With brandy butter Alan???[/quote]

Only if its homemade, using whisky [lots], butter with castor and granulated sugar.

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We make 'em - and certainly don't share!

i make my own, the traditional way with beef mince meat included. The other half can't get enough.

[quote=fudgieoto;105834]i make my own, the traditional way with beef mince meat included..........[/quote]

"beef mince meat"??????????????????????????????????

Reminds me of the time someone served my parents cheesecake with a side salad - they ate it, so as not to embarrass the person.

try;- [url=http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/home-made-christmas-mincemeat,1235,RC.html]Home-made Christmas Mincemeat from Delia Online[/url]
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Makes 600ml/1 pint

Preparation time less than 30 mins

Cooking time 30 mins to 1 hour

Ingredients
75g/2½oz soft dark brown sugar
60ml/2fl oz ruby port
300g/10½oz cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves
75g/2½oz currants
75g/2½oz raisins
30g/1oz dried cranberries
1 clementine, zest and juice only
25ml/1fl oz brandy
few drops almond extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp honey

Method
1. In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.
2. Add the cranberries and stir.
3. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves, currants, raisins, dried cranberries and the zest and juice of the clementine.
4. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has broken down and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. (You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them fully.)
5. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
6. Add the brandy, almond extract, vanilla extract and honey and stir well with a wooden spoon to mash the mixture down into a paste.
7. Spoon the mincemeat into sterilised jars and, once cool, store in the fridge for up to two weeks.

"This is the way I make my mince pies, and there is no changing me or them: they are small, to be popped straight into the mouth in one go; the pastry is plain, the better to contrast with the rich, fruited filling; and they have not full casings but little stars as lids, which makes them look beautiful and taste flutteringly light.

By all means use good shop-bought mincemeat if you want, but I’m hoping you might give my new Cranberry-Studded Mincemeat a go (see above): it tastes both rich and boozy and fresh and fruity at the same time; and it makes for a slightly different mince pie, but in a welcome rather than challenging way.

With mince pies, I must have butter of some sort: I’ll take brandy butter (my mother’s), rum butter or a brown-sugar bourbon butter.. Mince pies are to be savoured – not just as one of the last truly seasonal foods in England, but also as a home-grown culinary triumph, provoking one delighted Frenchman to exclaim in a letter, as quoted proudly by Agnes Jekyll in her Kitchen Essays: “ce que j’adore dans la cuisine anglaise ce sont vos petits mince-pi”.

240g plain flour
60g vegetable shortening, such as Trex
60g cold butter
juice of 1 orange
pinch of salt
approx. 350g mincemeat
icing sugar for dusting

Get out a tray of miniature tart tins, each indent 4.5cm in diameter, along with a 5.5cm fluted, round biscuit cutter and a 4cm star cutter.
Measure the flour into a shallow bowl or dish and, with a teaspoon, dollop little mounds of vegetable shortening into the bowl, add the butter, diced small, shake to cover it, then put in the freezer for 20 minutes. This is what will make the pastry so tender and flaky later.
Mix together the orange juice and salt in a separate, small bowl, cover and leave in the fridge to chill.
After the 20 minutes, empty the flour and fat into the bowl of your food processor and blitz until you’ve got a pale pile of porridge-like crumbs. Pour the salted juice down the funnel, pulsing until it looks as if the dough is about to cohere; you want to stop just before it does (even if some orange juice is left). If all your juice is used up and you need more liquid, add some iced water.
If you prefer to use a freestanding mixer to make the pastry, cut the fats into the flour with the flat paddle, leaving the bowl in the fridge to chill down for the 20-minute flour-and-fat-freezer session. Add liquid as above. I often find the pastry uses more liquid in the mixer than the processor.
Turn the mixture out of the processor or mixing bowl onto a pastry board or work surface and, using your hands, combine to a dough. Then form into 3 discs (you’ll need to make these in 3 batches, unless you’ve got enough tart tins to make all 36 pies at once).
Wrap each disc in clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 220°C/gas mark 7.
Roll out the discs, one at a time, as thinly as you can without exaggerating; in other words, you want a light pastry case, but one sturdy enough to support the dense mincemeat. This is easy-going dough, so you don’t have to pander to it: just get rolling and patch up as you need.
Out of each rolled-out disc cut out circles a little wider than the indentations in the tart tins; I use a fluted cookie cutter for this. Press these circles gently into the moulds and dollop in a scant teaspoon of mincemeat.
Then cut out your stars with your little star cutter – re-rolling the pastry as necessary – and place the tops lightly on the mincemeat.
Put in the oven and bake for 10–15 minutes: keep an eye on them as they really don’t take long and ovens do vary.
Remove from the oven, prising out the little pies straight away and letting the empty tin cool down before you start putting in the pastry for the next batch. Carry on until they’re all done.
Dust over some icing sugar by pushing it through a tea strainer, and serve the pies with one of the butters, recipe to follow

MAKE AHEAD TIP:
Make the mince pies up to 1 week ahead and leave to cool. Store in an airtight container layered up between sheets of greaseproof paper. Pop into a warm oven for 3–4 minutes before serving, dusted with icing sugar.
FREEZE AHEAD TIP:
Make and pack the pies as above and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight on a cooling rack and reheat as above.

I can't seem to find her brandy butter recipe.

"So much better than brandy butter or custard - thick, luxurious and delicious"

INGREDIENTS

3 oz butter
4 oz icing sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 oz ground almonds
3 tablespoons brandy
3 tablespoons whipped cream
Serving Size : Serves 4

So much better than brandy butter or custard - thick, luxurious and delicious
METHOD

1. Beat the butter, add the icing sugar and mix well
2. Add the beaten egg and stir in a bain marie for a few minutes - be careful not to overheat at this stage
3. Remove from heat and add ground almonds and brandy
4. Fold in whipped cream

My God! With all this baking you're going to do over the Christmas period Sally - you wont have enough time left for the Forum. Don't Ikea sell mince pies and suchlike?