Ingredients for Christmas mince pies:

Pastry

225g – Plain flour
100g – Butter
25g – Caster sugar
1 – Egg yolk
2tbsp – Lemon juice
2tbsp – Cold water

1 Jar of mincemeat

Filo pastry ( Fresh )

Icing sugar for dusting

Fresh cranberries for a sweet and sour flavour.

Ok so here`s a twist on the ole favourite xmas mince pies…no tops on , open pies but with a little something different.

These are the ones I made today so feel free to change depending what you can get hold of in the pre-xmas rush.

To make the pastry , put the flour in a bowl and rub in the butter until it feels like fine breadcrumbs, stir in the sugar, egg yolk , lemon juice and water then knead into a dough and chill between 2 sheets of clingfilm in the fridge for about 30 mins.

Put the oven on to roughly 200 degrees.

Roll out the pastry and then cut into discs with a cookie cutter and use these discs to line the mince pie moulds.

Place a spoonful of the mincemeat into each disc, don’t overfill as it boils out.

Cut thin strips of filo sheets about an inch wide, gently drop into the palm of your hand and make into a rough ball shape.

Carefully place one on each pie top , dust with icing sugar and bake in the hot oven until the icing sugar caramelises and the pies are beginning to brown.

Take out and dust with icing sugar again

Keep in airtight container as they quickly go soft in the air.

Add a couple of cranberries for a sweet and sour flavour, something a little different.