Mince Pies...

I LOVE mince pies...I reckon I could eat about a hundred of them before feeling sick! I love them even more with a tiny smidge of brandy butter sneaked in under the lid, melting into the filling....mmmmmmm.

So a couple of years ago I attempted my own mincemeat, before this I'd always just bought a jar and the pastry which kind of took away the whole point of making them myself! I took the recipe from a magazine and had it safely stored in my precious notebook of recipes...which seems to have disappeared somewhere between my many moves the last couple of years. So this year I took the recipe from Nigella's "How to be a domestic goddess" (which I managed to pick up in a charity shop for £2, what a bargain!). The recipe uses apple as a substitute for suet, she also has a recipe using suet but I thought I'd give this one a go. It does seem to be missing something but I'm not sure if it's the suet or whether I was a bit skimpy on the brandy. The pies themselves are still delicious but I'm not sure whether I'll use the recipe again.

I used puff pastry, rolled it out with icing sugar and glazed it with milk and a little bit of brandy. I bought the pastry...I always buy the pastry, I don't think that I've ever attempted to make it myself! It just seems so silly when you can buy it so easily! Maybe next year!

So it's feeling ever so festive here this evening....if only I had some mulled wine to accompany those pies...