Pastry Cakey Christmas Mince Pies
You know when you were little and your Mum used to make stuff that you liked so much it stuck in your memory? With me Mam, it was Sunday lunch – well, not so much the actual lunch as the pudding, which could be proper steamed treacle or jam sponge, or a yummy rice pudding that she used to bake slowly in the oven…mmmmm.
Anyhoo, digressing. Apparently when Hubby was little, his Ma used to make these things that they called pastry-jammy-cakey-things (I know, imaginative title). These were basically jam tarts with a sponge top. Hubby and I were chatting last night over a cup of tea (oh yes, after the spectacular failure of the every other day AFD, alcohol has been banned on week nights – it’s nearly killing us) about such things and Hubby came up with a spectacular idea – ‘ooh, I know’, he said ‘what about pastry-jammy-cakey-mince pies?’
So I had a fiddle, and here they are. Beware, they are severely moreish.
Pastry Mincey Cakey Pie Things
For the pastry:
9 oz plain flour
5 oz cold butter, cubed
3 oz caster sugar
1 egg, beaten
First, mix the flour, butter and caster sugar in a food processor, slowly adding the egg until it comes together (actually, this is a total lie – I just bung it all in, then add the whole egg and hope for the best). Or to do it the old fashioned way, rub the butter in to the flour, add the sugar and bring together with the egg. Squish your pastry into a flat lump and cool in the fridge for half an hour (or however long – it’ll keep in there).
Then, when you’re ready, take half the pastry (save half for another day), roll out quite thinly (pound coin width isn’t it?) and cut with a cutter into discs to match your muffin tin (best with a nice deep one). Line each little hole with a disc of pastry and blind bake them in a 200 degree oven for about 5 minutes. You can do all that baking bean stuff but frankly I can’t be arsed. Then take them out and let them cool while you whip up a boring old cake mix:
4 oz butter
4 oz caster sugar
4 oz self raising flour
2 eggs
Cream the butter and the sugar, then add the eggs one at a time and finally the flour until you have a nice smooth mixture.
Take about half a jar of mincemeat and mix with a splosh of Morgan’s Spiced Rum (optional, but fabulous). Dollop a teaspoonful of mincemeat into each little pastry case and cover with a tablespoon of cake mix. Back into the oven for about 12 – 15 minutes until risen and golden (watch carefully for the last few minutes) and there you go. They’re ridiculously difficult to get out of the tin, but they taste divine so who cares?
As to the name, well, they can’t be pastry-jammy-cakey-things any more as they contain no jam, but pastry-mincey-cakey-things doesn’t sound right. So how about Christmas Mince Pie Cakes? Ooh, or how about just Christmas Pies? Pah, whatever.
The thingys sound lovely, and I’d love to say that I’ll be trying them, but can’t cook a lick, and there’s no M&S here. I always liked their little pasteries in boxes. My mother sprinkled castor sugar over them so we could pass them off as homemade, oh the shame! Thanks for your nice email. Sandra in MD