Wednesday 19 December 2007

It's such a long time since I posted & that is mostly because I wanted to include pictures of things that I had actually finished! And now I come to write a post & put in some lovely pics, photobucket is down so I can't upload them. Typical!

So I will resign myself to writing up my mince pie making tips instead. One of my big Christmas rants is that most mince pies are completely disgusting - sandy pastry & slimy mincemeat being the most common problems. They can also get a bit boring after you've eaten several. Personally I like the pies to be small & the pastry to be as rich, buttery, crisp & thin as possible. I also like a little bit of variety in flavours.

So my tips are:
1) Roll out the pastry really thinly & butter the mince pie tins very thoroughly.
2) Add flavours to the pastry - orange zest is delicious or a touch of cinnamon is really good too.
3) Cut down on the pastry by doing a lattice topping or a star shape as the top layer rather than the standard pastry lid.
4) If you like marzipan a really good thing to do is to put a 10p piece size bit of marzipan underneath the mincemeat - it really is a delicous treat
5) Make your own mincemeat - it really is very straight forward & you can include all your favourite things so that you can guarantee enjoying them.

I'll be making my first batch this evening. Hopefully I will be able to post a pic by then!

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