Christmas Mince Pies with a Twist!

If you aren't yet sick of Christmas, wish to carry on the festival celebrations (I definitely want too) and fancy a bit of baking, then I would fully suggest trying out some cranberry and apple mince pies! I baked these up to the run up of Christmas and they turned out to be a huge success, even if I don't mind saying so myself... (I mean, they're all gone so they must of turnt out a hit!)

Courtesy of following a trusty Waitrose recipe, with a few personal tweaks, here are the simply steps you need to follow! 

To make 24 mince pies, all you need is: 

1kg of jus-rol shortcrust pastry
410g jar of mincemeat
100-120g of fresh cranberries (best to cut in half)
1 cooking apple
50g of light or dark muscovado sugar 
1 tablespoon of mixed spice
Milk to brush onto mince pies
Caster sugar, to sprinkle



1. Firstly preheat the oven at 190C, gas mark 5. Make sure you take your shortcrust pastry out of the fridge 10 to 15 minutes before using it so that it is able to reach room temperature. 

2. Whilst waiting, make the filling. You'll need to add your mince meat, cranberries, sugar and spice into a large mixing bowl. Peel your cooking apple and grate the flesh into the bowl. Make sure you mix the ingredients well. 


3. When your pastry has reached room temperature, thinly roll out three quarters of your pastry onto a  floured surface. It's best that you have a cutter that roughly fits your cake tin (it's just a matter of trail and error), and to make sure that the pastry isn't too thick! 


4. Once you've cut out your circles place them into your cake tin. 

5. Roll out your left over pastry to make the lids. Use a smaller cutter compared so that they are able to fit on top! 

6. Once complete, start filling your mince pies with the filling. Don't overfill them, otherwise they will overflow when they come out of the oven... I did that with a few. Woops. Decorate the tops of your mince pies and position them on top of the pies. Brush the edges with a little bit of water and then press the edges together so they seal.


7. Brush with milk to glaze the mince pies, and bake in the oven for roughly 20-25 minutes until they are all golden! 

8. Allow the mince pies to cool on a wire rack and sprinkle with sugar. Tah Dah! Your mince pies are ready to be served and I'm sure will please the loved ones.



I hope you enjoy these as much as I enjoyed making them!

I hope you continue to enjoy the festivities with family and friends and have a happy happy New Year!!!

See you soon on another blog,

That Ginge Girl 

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