These are my favourite mince pies. The stem ginger lifts and freshens the mincemeat, and the gingerbread pastry makes the pies taste as warm as a Christmas Eve in front of the fire.
Gingerbread Man Mince Pies
Ingredients
Gingerbread Pastry
- 300 g Plain flour plus extra for dusting
- 150 g Unsalted butter Cold, cut into small cubes
- ¾ tsp Ground ginger
- ½ tsp Ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp Dark brown sugar
- 1 Large egg Beaten
Mincemeat Filling
- 250 g Mincemeat
- 60 g Stem ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp Stem ginger syrup (From jar of stem ginger)
Instructions
Make The Dough
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Add flour, spices and salt to the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined.
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Add cubed butter and pulse until resembling fine breadcrumbs.
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Add sugar and pulse until distributed through the mixture.
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Add the egg and pulse until the dough starts to clump. Keep pulsing until a dough starts to form and then remove and form unto a unified lump of dough.
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Wrap dough in clingfilm and place in fridge for 2-24 hours.
Form the Mince Pies
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Remove chilled dough from the fridge and roll to and even 3mm thickness
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Cut 12 rounds using a fluted 9cm cutter.
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Place into foil pie cases if possible, otherwise place into the spaces in a 12 hole pie/muffin tin.
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Mix together the mincemeat and the stem ginger, along with the ginger syrup.
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Spoon 1tbsp into each of the pastry cases that have been made.
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Roll remaining pastry scraps and cut 12 small gingerbread men from the dough. Decorate with a wooden skewer, moulding tool, or similar to make indentations in the shape of two eyes, a mouth and three buttons.
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Place one gingerbread man on top of each pie.
To Bake, Either:
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Preheat oven to 190℃ and bake immediately for 20 minutes, or
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Freeze flat, unbaked. After freezing for two hours store in a freezer bag. When ready to use, place in a muffin tray (with foil cases if possible) and bake from frozen at 190℃ for 30 minutes.
