Vegan pastry filled with a thin layer of sweet marzipan and rum flavoured mincemeat gives these pies a lightly spiced festive warmth. PLUS they are topped with a buttery almond crumble and a dusting of sugar for added flavour and texture. Delicious!
Keyword Christmas, Mince Pie
Servings 18pies
Author Let's Eat Smart
Ingredients
2sheetsShortcrust pastry (ready rolled)
220gMarzipan
For the mincemeat
1apple, grated
100ghazelnuts, roasted & chopped
150gmixed dried fruit
1orange, grated zest & juice
400gtin of apricots
50mlcherry juice
150gbrown sugar
1tspcinnamon
1tspginger
1tspall spice
2shotsspiced rum
For the crumble
1cupoats
100gvegan margarine
2tbspgolden caster sugar
1/2cupflour
40almonds, roughly chopped
Instructions
To make the mince meat
Preheat the oven to 180C | Gas mark 4.
Place all of the ingredients apart from the rum into an ovenproof dish. Cover with a lid or foil and roast for 30-40 minutes until bubbly. Once done, remove from the oven and let it cool completely before the next step.
Place the filling into a food processor or a blender and whizz for a few seconds. I don't like mince pies that are really chunky but you still want a bit of crunch from the hazelnuts. I like mine to be somewhere between smooth and chunky so whizz for a few seconds, see if the texture is right for you and if not, whizz again. Once happy, stir in the alcohol.
To make the crumble
Place the margarine, sugar, flour and oats into a bowl and rub together between your fingers until you have pea sized lumps. Stir in the chopped almonds.
Assembling the pies
Preheat the oven to 200C | Gas mark 6. Grease your muffin trays with a little margarine.
Unroll the pastry and using a 9cm wide round cutter, cut out 18 circles, then press them into your prepared muffin tin.
Roll out the marzipan until 2mm thick. Using a 4cm wide round cutter, cut out 18 circles and place in the bottom of each pie. Top each one with a tablespoon of mincemeat and sprinkle with the crumbly filling.
Bake in the middle of the oven for 16 minutes or until lightly golden. Once cool, dust with icing sugar and dig straight in.