Week 18 Dish 2: Vegan mince pies

OH MY GOD homemade mince pies are amazing! I really don't know why I never made them before. As you saw in the previous post, vegan mincemeat is so so very easy to make. Once that's done you just make this really simple vegan pastry, and voila!! Vegan mince pies! This recipe does not make a sweet pastry, just a simple shortcrust pastry. Once you have a taste of these you really won't want to go back to shop-bought ones!

Makes 12-15

You will need half of my vegan mincemeat recipe

Ingredients

200 g plain flour

100 g vegan margarine

3 tbsp ice-cold water

1/2 tsp salt

Method

1. Add the salt to the flour and mix. Then add the margarine and rub into the flour using your fingertips until it resembles bread crumbs.
2. Pour in the cold water and press the mixture together to form a dough.
3. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C and grease a muffin tin.
4. On a clean, floured surface, roll the dough out fairly thin. Cut out large (~12cm - which I didn't have so I used a large flower instead!) circles and either smaller circles of funky shapes for the lids.
5. Carefully press the large circles into the muffin tin. Fill each with a generous dollop of mincemeat (I still had a bit left over at the end) and top with the smaller circles/ funky-shaped lids.
6. If you used circular lids, carefully pinch the edges of each pie closed and stab a fork in the middle of the pie to allow steam to escape. If you used funky shapes then no need for this!
7. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes or until a nice golden brown.

Original recipe: Mince pie pastry