Baking Advent Calendar day 7

I spent my Sunday afternoon baking mince pies and that means we have the first true Christmas bake for Advent Calendar day 7. I know that mince pies are traditional in Britain at this time of year but I’m not sure about the rest of the world. If you haven’t heard of them they are small individual sweet pies that are filled with a mixture of dried fruits and spices. They can be traced back to the 13th century when crusaders returning from the Middle East to Europe bought recipes containing meats , fruits and spices.  In their early forms the pies did contain meat as well as fruits and spice, but over time they have become the purely sweet version that we have today. If you want to know more about the history of the pies there is a fascinating wiki/Mince_pie page

I’ve been baking these for a few years now but today was a first in that I had never made my own mincemeat before. Previously I’ve always used a shop bought one and simply made the pastry case myself. That’s all changed now though and after trying one of these pies I’m not going back. Home made mincemeat is gorgeous and you have real control over the flavours that you want to accentuate. The mince pie recipe that I used was Felicity Cloake’s mince pie masterclass  column in the Guardian. In this column Felicity takes one dish every week and splits it into 9 or 10 stages. She takes you though it in a fine detail and I have to say that in all cases where I’ve used it the results have been wonderful. When you look at this recipe the ingredients list for the mincemeat may feel daunting but note Felicity’s comment that things can be changed if there are some in there that you don’t like or don’t have. I didn’t bother with the stem ginger in mine and I also left out the optional orange blossom water that she has as a pastry ingredient.

The recipe is for 20 pies. If like me you think that sounds rather lot I suggest making the full amount of mincemeat but half the pastry. I now have 10 pies to enjoy, and share of course, and the mincemeat to make ten more nearer Christmas.