Experimental Cookery 2019: Paul Hollywood's Mince Pies

Due to the stresses at work, my Christmas baking ended up being deferred until this week, and was reduced to only a single item. Which was not ideal, especially since LC doesn't like mince pies, Funsize is too young, and I can't possibly eat 18 of them by myself. Oh, and we can't even give them to the church or other group due to strict food hygiene requirements (they're fine, but I can't absolutely guarantee which allergens are present in the mincemeat).

It's possible I haven't chosen the very best item to cook!

Anyway, these turned out to be a mix of easy and frustrating - the pastry came together nice and easily, as did the enhanced mincemeat (which is regular mincemeat with the added apple and orange). But putting it together proved awkward - at first I hadn't left the pastry to chill for long enough, so had to put it back into a ball and chill again. This meant that it ended up over-worked, which seemed appropriate but was a little disappointing. Then the quantities were off - I had enough pastry for 18 pies and enough mincemeat for 24 or more, which was a sad waste. Plus, I really need a bigger cutter for the deep-fill pies.

But they turned out pretty well:

I should note that those aren't at all burnt - they were over-filled somewhat so the brown bits are where the filling has flowed out. Which makes for a fairly awful washing-up job!

They actually taste pretty good, although as noted the pastry was over-worked. But next time...

And that's basically that. I'm reasonably happy with the way these turned out, but slightly dismayed at how pathetic my Christmas baking turned out to be. But it's a start, so I guess that's okay.