We can’t get enough of Jamie Oliver in our house! His Christmas cooking programmes are practically on repeat, and I thought it was about time I had a go at his ‘new stylee’ mince pies.
For this simple recipe you only need:
- Ready rolled puff pastry
- Ready rolled filo pastry
- Melted butter
- Shaved almonds
- Icing sugar
- Mince meat
Start by arranging 2 sheets of filo pastry together so that they hang approx 2 inches over the edge of a cupcake baking tray.
Paint the sheets of filo pastry with melted butter all over, but be quite quick as once the pastry gets to room temperature it can be more difficult to handle.
Turning the filo pastry upside down, lay onto your baking sheet buttered side down, which will prevent the pastry sticking.
Gently push the filo pastry into the holes of the tray with a scrap ball of pastry, crinkling up the edges as you go.
On a ready rolled sheet of puff pastry, spread the mince meat across the whole surface and add a sprinkling of shaved almonds for texture.
You can also add clementine zest and other dried fruit.
Then roll it up into a sausage, and cut into individual slices approx 2cm thick.
Lay each slice into the filo pastry cups on the baking tray
Brush all over with more melted butter,
and add icing sugar and a few more shaved almonds on top.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180’C for 30 minutes.
Once golden brown, remove from oven.
Place a board on top of the pies while still inside the baking tray, turn upside down and they should slip out easily while still warm.
If left in the tray to cool they may stick and then be difficult to remove later (this happened with my second batch!)
Pull each pie apart by the crispy filo edges, creating a rustic finish.
Sprinkle with icing sugar, and then enjoy with a cup of tea!