I found myself looking for an alternative version of mince pies and while watching an episode of Saturday Kitchen, I saw James Martin and Richard Bertinet make some with a Frangipane topping. As I rushed to make them, I realised I had all but depleted my supplies of mincemeat. I therefore went for another Christmas flavour - mulled cider, and knowing I had frozen apples from the garden, I cracked on...
Makes about 18 mini pies, depending on size.
Ingredients.
Pastry
175g Plain Flour
65g Cold Butter, cubed
65g Caster Sugar
1 Egg
Frangipane
100g Butter, room temperature
100g Caster or Icing Sugar
100g Ground Almonds
1 Egg
25g Plain Flour
3tbsp Spiced Rum
Apples
200g Apples, sliced
50g Caster Sugar
2tsp Ground Cinnamon
1tsp Ground Mixed Spice
Good glug of Spiced Rum
Knob of Butter
Flaked Almonds
Method
1.Take half of the apples and add to a small pan with the sugar, spices, butter and rum. Cook down slowly until soft and gooey. Covered, over a low heat, this should take 5-10 minutes. Finely chop the other half of the apples and add to the pan, combining fully and cook for another couple of minutes. You want to coat the new apples but let them keep some of their shape. Leave the lid of and set aside to cool.
2. Make the pastry by adding the flour, butter and sugar to your food processor and blitzing until you get fine a bread-crumb like texture. Add the egg and pulse again until the dough comes together.
3. Roll out your dough on a well floured surfaced. You want to get it rather thin so you can add lots of filling. I used a mini muffin tin that had space for 24 pies, as a guide to the size, that I greased liberally. Cut out circles of dough and push into the tin. I found an aptly shaped implement (on my case the wooden knob of a ravioli cutter) really helps to ensure even coverage of the sides. Pop in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. To make the frangipane, beat the butter in a stand mixer of with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and beat again, followed and repeated with the ground almonds. Add the flour and the egg, and splosh in the rum and mix fully. Cover and pop into the fridge as well.
5. Set your oven to 180º, no fan
6. When your pies cases are chilled, remove from the oven and spoon in a teaspoon or so of the stewed apple, depending how much room you have. Don't forget you will be adding the frangipane. I used a piping bag but you could just as well use a teaspoon to top each pie with a dollop of the frangipane and using a wet finger is necessary, smooth off the top. Top with some flaked almonds and bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and dust with icing sugar before serving, and enjoy!
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