Chocolate Mince Pies

If you love Fruit Mince Pies and you are a fan of chocolate, then combine the two, upgrade your Christmas traditions and make your mince pies much more decadent by enclosing the fruit mince in a dark chocolate pastry.   I had planned to make the same mince pies that I make every year, but I didn’t make enough pastry.  I did however have some chocolate pastry sitting in the fridge so I decided to use it and try this combination. 

You will need the recipe for the fruit mince filling and you can find it here .

They are delicious, and although rich, they’d make a great after dinner dessert accompanied by some good quality vanilla gelato!

Chocolate Mince Pies

• 280g Plain Flour
• 125g Icing Sugar
• 50g bitter cocoa powder
• pinch salt
• 200g butter, cut into cubes
• 2 egg yolks
• 500g fruit mince (homemade or store bought)
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg beaten

1. Mix the flour, icing sugar, cocoa powder and salt together in a food processor.  Mix in the butter pulsing until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add the egg and mix until the mixture comes together in clumps (you may need to a little cold water). Knead the dough by hand briefly until smooth, wrap in plastic kitchen wrap and leave to chill in the fridge for one hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
4. Remove the pastry from the fridge, and roll out to a thickness of 0.5cm.  Using a 7.5cm cutter, stamp out 12 discs from the pastry and use them to line a 12-hole cupcake tin. Fill each hole with two teaspoons of the mincemeat mixture and brush the edges with milk.
5. Using a 6cm cutter, cut out 12 circles and use them to top the mince pies, pressing around the edges to ensure tops are stuck to bottoms.
6. Poke holes in the top of each one with a fork and brush the top of each mince pie with a beaten egg and milk wash.
7. Bake in the oven for  about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked.
8. Serve dusted with icing sugar. Keep stored in an airtight container and eat at least one …  ahem… two every day!