Mincemeat Pie With Brandy Butter Food

MINCEMEAT PIE WITH BRANDY BUTTER

Steps:

• Melt beef suet in a stockpot over medium heat. Add apples, brown sugar, raisins, currants, cranberries, apricots, all candied peel, cherries, orange juice, and zests. Season with salt, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens and apples are tender, 20 to 30 minutes.
• Cool mincemeat filling to room temperature, at least 20 minutes. Cover and chill mincemeat overnight, about 8 hours, or up to 3 days.
• Combine flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor to make the pastry crust. Add butter and pulse, 5 to 10 times, until combined. Add 5 to 6 tablespoons water, continuing to pulse, until a dough forms. Turn dough out on a lightly floured surface. Lightly knead together, shape into two flat circles, and wrap each in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Roll out one of the pastry circles to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut out 6 circles using a 4 1/2-inch cookie cutter and roll into 6-inch circles. Place into six 4-inch tartlet pans and crimp the edges. Divide the mincemeat filling between the crusts; smooth the tops.
• Roll out the remaining dough to the same thickness. Use a cookie cutter to carve out 6 stars to cover the pies. Beat egg with a splash of water. Brush egg wash over the top of each star and the edges of the pies; sprinkle with sanding sugar. Place pies on a baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool pies on a wire rack.
• Beat butter and powdered sugar together in a medium bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in brandy and boiling water until smooth. Chill brandy butter until ready to serve. Garnish each pie with a pat of brandy butter if desired.

PILGRIM APPLE MINCEMEAT PIE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
• For the pie crusts:
• In a large bowl, combine the flours, salt, sugar and baking powder. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles cornmeal. In small bowl, mix water and vinegar with the beaten egg. Add the liquid mixture 1 tablespoon at a time to the flour mixture, tossing with a fork to form a soft dough. Shape into 3 disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator. Use 2 disks when making this pie. Freeze remaining dough for later use. Roll out 1 disk and place into a 9-inch pie dish for bottom crust.
• For the apple filling: Combine the apples, butter and lemon juice in a saucepan over medium heat and cook for about 8 minutes. Cool slightly.
• In a medium bowl combine the sugar, tapioca, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add slightly cooled apples and mix well. Stir in vanilla and cream. Place apple mixture into bottom of pie crust, spreading evenly.
• Spread the mincemeat on top of apple filling. Roll out another dough disk and adjust over the filling. Flute edge and vent top. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake for 15 minutes and then reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake for 30 to 35 minutes longer, or until golden. Garnish, as desired, with baked pastry cut outs or whipped topping.

MINCE PIE CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180.
• Cream together the butter, caster sugar and vanilla essence until smooth and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs one at a time.
• In separate bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, then add to the batter and mix well until incorporated. Add the milk to loosen the mixture, mixing to a soft, smooth consistency.
• Line a 12 hole muffin tin with muffin cases and divide the mixture evenly between them. Bake for 25 minutes without opening the oven door to check them for the first 20 - this stops them from collapsing!
• Remove from the oven, turn the cupcakes out of the tin and leave to cool on a wire rack while you make the icing.
• Cream the butter and icing sugar together until smooth and fluffy, then mix in the brandy. You may have to add a little more icing sugar or a tablespoon of flour if the icing becomes too runny. It should be firm enough to hold a peak if a spoon is dipped in and removed. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a fluted nozzle and chill in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to firm up a little.
• When the cakes have cooled, cut any domed tops off and use a peeler or apple corer to make a hole in the middle of each one, leaving at least 1/2 cm of sponge to the edge of the cake all round. Keep all the offcuts.
• Fill each cake with a heaped tsp of mincemeat and replace the offcuts of sponge back on top to seal it in. You may have to trim these a little, but it doens't matter if they stand slightly proud of the top of the cake.
• Finally, pipe the icing in a spiral on top of the cake, making sure the hole in the middle is completely covered. Start at the outside and spiral towards the middle, building up to a peak. Decorate with as much festive glitter, decorations and sweets as you like!

MINCEMEAT PIE

Steps:

• Make mincemeat:
• Stir together all mincemeat ingredients. Chill in an airtight container at least 3 days.
• Make pie:
• Put a baking sheet in middle of oven and preheat oven to 400°F.
• Roll out 1 piece of dough (keep remaining piece chilled) on a lightly floured surface into a 13-inch round and fit into a 9-inch glass pie plate (4-cup capacity). Stir mincemeat, then spoon into shell. Chill pie while rolling out top.
• Roll out remaining disk into a 10-inch round on lightly floured surface. Cut into 10 (1-inch-wide) strips with a fluted pastry wheel or a knife. Arrange strips in a lattice pattern on top of filling and trim strips and edge of bottom crust, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang. Seal edges and crimp decoratively. Brush lattice and edge with some of egg and sprinkle with sugar.
• Bake until pastry is golden brown, 50 minutes to 1 hour. (If pastry rim gets too dark, tent with foil.) Cool 2 hours before serving.