Recipe: Benoit Blin’s Festive Mince Pies
Words by Belmond Editors
Discover the best mince pie recipe from celebrated pastry chef and Bake Off: The Professionals judge Benoit Blin. With traditional festive spices and buttery pastry, it’s the perfect recipe for Christmas, where nights are long and the cosiness of the kitchen calls.
Mince pies have been around since medieval times in England, when crusaders returned from Europe with Middle Eastern recipes and new spices in tow. Despite the name, mince pies haven’t contained meat for hundreds of years, and by the 17th century they had become a Christmas baking staple.
As Chef Pâtissier at the two Michelin star Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire and the brains behind the London Afternoon Tea at The Cadogan Lounge, Benoit knows a thing or two about bringing well-honed French technique to British palates. While he has expressed a penchant for adding a little bit of almond cream at the bottom of his mince pies, this recipe is his strictly traditional English version.
Feel the spirit of the season descend as your kitchen fills with the warm aroma of spiced fruit and rich butter, perfect for communal Christmas baking as the days grow darker. Joyeux Noël!
Note: The mincemeat will keep in the fridge for a month and can be used when needed. If you like, the sable pastry (also known as ‘pâte sablée’) can be made 2–3 days ahead and stored in the fridge.
Ingredients Serves: Makes 20-24 mince pies
- 140g unsalted butter, diced
- 50g caster sugar
- 35g icing sugar
- Vanilla extract
- 1 small pinch salt
- 20g ground almonds
- 1 egg yolk
- 25g cornflour
- 200g plain flour
- 75g vegetable suet
- 240g dried mixed fruits (¼ mixed peel, ¼ currants, ½ raisins)
- 105g dark brown sugar
- ¾ tsp mixed spice
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- 1 orange (zest and juice)
- 1 lemon (zest and juice)
- 135g bramley apple (peeled and diced in 5mm cubes)
- 25ml brandy or dark rum
- 100g brown granulated sugar
Instructions
Step 1 / 13
The day before, begin making the mincemeat filling. In a large bowl, combine the vegetable suet, dried mixed fruit, dark brown sugar, mixed spice, nutmeg, orange, lemon and apple. Cover with clingfilm and leave to rest overnight in the fridge.
Step 2 / 13
The next day, preheat the oven to 275°F / 140°C / Gas Mark 1. Cook the mincemeat mixture in a small baking tray covered with foil for around 1 hour 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Step 3 / 13
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely. Continue to stir every now and then, to ensure the fat remains throughout the mixture and avoids any setting on the top.
Step 4 / 13
Once the mixture is cool, add the brandy and place the mixture in the fridge, covered, until needed.
Step 5 / 13
Next, make the pastry. In a mixing bowl with a paddle attachment, combine the icing sugar, caster sugar and diced cold butter on slow speed. This can also be done by hand.
Step 6 / 13
Add the vanilla extract, salt and egg yolk until incorporated.
Step 7 / 13
Add the ground almond, cornflour and plain flour, and combine for a couple of minutes until the dough comes together and looks smooth.
Step 8 / 13
Cover and place the dough in the fridge for at least for a couple of hours to rest.
Step 9 / 13
It’s time to assemble the pies. Preheat the oven to 338°F / 170°C / Gas Mark 3. Lightly grease your 6.5cm x 3cm non-stick tartelette moulds (or any similar muffin tray).
Step 10 / 13
Roll the cold sable pastry on a well-floured table until about 2-3 mm thick. Cut 24 discs, about 8cm across, to line the bases of the tartelette moulds. Then cut a further 24 discs, around 6.5 cm across – these are your pastry lids.
Step 11 / 13
Spoon or pipe roughly 20g of cold mincemeat in each tartelette’s pastry base, then place a sable pastry lid on top.
Step 12 / 13
Bake the pies for about 12 to 15 minutes or until nice and golden.
Step 13 / 13
As soon as they are out of the oven, generously cover the pies with brown granulated sugar. Allow them to cool down slightly before removing them from their moulds – it can help to tap them gently on the side or carefully use a small paring knife.
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