With the crumbliest of pastry, these are ideal for impromptu callers, or just a quiet five minutes alone. Ginger just adds a little surprise to a Christmas classic.
Makes 12
200g butter, diced and chilled (plus extra to grease)
300g plain flour
75g golden caster sugar
1 tbsp ground ginger
Gingerbread mince pies
1 egg, beaten
For the filling:
3 pieces of stem ginger, chopped
250g mincemeat
To make
1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. Meanwhile, grease a 12-hole cupcake tin with butter.
2 Make the filling by mixing the stem ginger and the mincemeat. Set aside.
3 In a large bowl, add the butter and flour and, using the tips of your fingers, rub together until you have a fine breadcrumb consistency.
4 Add the sugar, ginger and a pinch of salt, and combine as much as possible. Roll a walnut-sized amount of pastry into a ball, flatten and push into each cupcake hole. Generously fill the pies with the mincemeat mixture, then top the pies by rolling smaller balls, flattening them and covering the mincemeat, or cut out shapes to top your pies if you’d prefer.
5 Glaze with the beaten egg and bake for 10-12 mins, or until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool in the tin for 5 mins before transferring to a wire rack. Enjoy them hot or cold. Cook’s note: If you’ve had enough ginger for one Christmas, you can leave it out of the dough or replace it with the same quantity of cinnamon. You could also mix the mincemeat with 2 tbsp of chopped morello cherries or nuts.
You’ll find more recipes using ginger in our feature Sugar and Spice in our December issue. It includes ideas for a Gingerbread House, Stem Ginger Shortbread, Chocolate, Orange and Ginger Babka, and a Cider, Rum and Ginger Beer Cocktail.
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