Our former Food Director, and previously food editor to Delia Smith, Sarah has written more than 1000 recipes for the magazine. She is also author ofFamily Baking and Marmalade; A Bittersweet Cookbookamong others.
See more of Sarah Randell’s recipes
Sarah Randell
Our former Food Director, and previously food editor to Delia Smith, Sarah has written more than 1000 recipes for the magazine. She is also author ofFamily Baking and Marmalade; A Bittersweet Cookbookamong others.
See more of Sarah Randell’s recipes
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Ingredients
2 x 411g jars mincemeat
200g small seedless red grapes
For the pastry
225g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
2 tbsp icing sugar
125g cold butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
1 large egg yolk
For the shortbread stars
125g soft butter
50g caster sugar
175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
a little preserving or granulated sugar, to sprinkle
For the vanilla cream
1 x 300ml carton whipping cream, chilled
1 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
a few drops of vanilla extract
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Get ahead
The pastry case can be baked and the shortbread stars can be made and cut out a day ahead; keep the stars on asheet of baking paper in the fridge. The assembled tart is best baked on the dayyou want to serve it.
For the pastry, put the flour and icingsugar into a food processor (or mixer)and add the butter, whiz for a minuteor so until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolk with a teaspoon of cold water and add to the processor, whiz again briefly until the pastry comes together; adding a few more drops of cold waterif necessary. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour and icing sugar in a bowl by hand, then add the egg yolk and water and mix until the pastry comes together. Tipthe pastry onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together with your hands to forma ball, then flatten into a disc. Wrap thedisc in clingfilm and chill it for 30 minutes.
For the shortbread, use a food processor or hand mixer to mix the butter and sugar together with a pinch of salt for 3-4 minutes until pale and creamy. Or, do this by hand with a wooden spoon. Tip in the flour and mix again to combine, then put the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and bring it together with your hands. Shape the dough into a disc as you did with the pastry, wrap it in clingfilm and chill it for 20 minutes.
Lightly grease and base line a 20cm x 28cm x 2.5cm-deep fluted tin (with a removable base). Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface slightly larger than the tin, then press into the tin to line it and chill for a further 20 minutes. Don't worry if it cracksa little, you can patch it up. Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Placea baking tray in the oven to heat up.
Tip
The larger granules of preserving sugar add a lovely crunch but you can use granulated sugar if you like
Line the pastry case with baking paper – scrunch it first before opening it out again and fitting it in to the pastry shell. Add baking beans (or uncooked rice) and putthe tin on the hot baking tray and into the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, take the shortbread out of the fridge to soften slightly.
After the 20 minutes, lift the paper and beans out of the pastry shell and bake the pastry case for a further 10 minutes, thenset it aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile,roll out the shortbread on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm-thick and cut outstar shapes using a mixture of different-sized cutters. (Bake any extra shortbread stars alongside the tart on a separate lined baking tray to eat as biscuits.)
Mix the mincemeat with the grapes and spoon into the tart case. Arrange the shortbread stars on top, sprinkle themwith preserving or granulated sugar and bake the tart for 30-35 minutes or until the shortbread stars are lightly golden.
Whisk all the ingredients together for the vanilla cream, then chill. Serve the tartwarm or cold, dusted with icing sugar,and with the vanilla cream alongside.
Chef quote
A giant mince pie with a crunchy, starry shortbread topping. The grapes in the filling add extra juiciness. If you don't have a rectangular tin, you can also make thisin a 26cm loose-bottomed round tart tin.
Suitable for home freezing. Ideally freeze as soon as possible after purchase but always by 'use by' date shown. Once defrosted, do not refreeze. defrost for a minimum of 4 hours in a cool, dry place Store in a cool, dry place and once opened in an airtight container.
Contains alcohol. Encased in an orange zest infused all-butter pastry, our Extra Special Mince Pies have a deliciously rich mincemeat filling infused with brandy and port for a wonderful flavour. This is what we're passionate about.
Martin Fone investigates the most traditional seasonal food of all, mince pies, and finds that they really did contain meat at one time in the past. Just be grateful you never got served one made with fish...
A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in North America, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the Christmas season in much of the English-speaking world.
The Kirkland signature mince pies from Costco. For me and my family these are some of the best mince pies you can buy, and the festive season does not start for us until we get a huge 12 pack of these incredible little cakey pie things.
We prefer to bake, cool and freeze. Then defrost and warm as and when needed. However you can freeze them uncooked. Open-freeze the mince pies in their oven trays then knock them out and store them in polythene bags for up to 3 months.
Mince pies are high in calories, saturated fat and sugar because of the pastry case, as well as the suet and sugar in the mincemeat filling. If you're baking your own, only use pastry for the base and leave the top open, just add a small star of pastry or use a lower-fat pastry, such as filo.
Why do we eat mince pies at Christmas? Mince pies were originally made to celebrate Jesus. They were oblong in shape to represent the manger that Jesus slept in as a baby and have a 'pastry baby Jesus' carved into the pastry. Traditionally one mince pie is eaten for the Twelve days of Christmas.
Many people enjoy mincemeat pie served warm, but it can also be served cold. The recipe below features both mini pies or you can make two nine-inch pies. You can pair mincemeat pie with ice cream, custard, or low-fat Greek yogurt for a sweet treat that's sure to impress!
However, I've taken too many out of the freezer so am wondering if I can just put some back in to freeze a second time? My mincemeat recipe was Delia's but my pastry recipe was one not using lard if that makes any difference. Hello, You can refreeze your cooked mince pies, well wrapped, for up to three months.
Fruit pies, such as apple, cherry, peach or blueberry, freeze magnificently, as do pecan pies. They can be frozen baked or unbaked, the latter of which can be a great way to get ahead when hosting a dinner party or big holiday meal.
All About Mincemeat: The Fabulous Filling for Mince Pies
These days, mincemeat is made with a mixture of dried fruit, such as raisins and currants, candied fruit peels, lemon and orange zest, finely chopped apple, brandy, warming spices, and the rendered animal fat suet (or a vegetarian substitute).
Mince pies were first served in the early middle ages, and the pies were quite sizeable, filled with a mixture of finely minced meat, chopped up fruit and a preserving liquid. Mincemeat originally came about as a good way of preserving meat, without salting, curing, smoking or drying it.
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Prep time: 2 hrs 20 mins, plus chilling
