Mince pies

Nothing beats a home made mince pie I like the fact that there not all perfect and this recipe is so so simple and tastes amazeballs if I do say so myself  .... I do cheat a little and use a jar of mincemeat but I like to spice it up a little make it a bit more different :)

Ingredients: 

225g COLD butter, diced                               
350g Plain flour 
100g caster sugar 
280g mincemeat 
50g ground almonds 
1/2 apple finely chopped
1 tbsp brandy  
1 egg beaten 

1)So most people would say to make the pastry by hand and yes I normally would but you know Christmas is a busy busy time so I make use of my food processor it's still by hand yes?  So put your butter , flour and sugar in the processor and process(?) until it forms a ball.  you can either chill this or use it straight away it's really up to you 
2) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees . grease a 12 hole cake tin. Put your mincemeat into a bowl and mix in the brandy,almonds and apple 
3) Roll your pastry flat you will need 12 large circles cut out for the bottoms and 12 smaller for the top . Then all you need to do is press the larger ones into the tin then place a teaspoon of mincemeat into the cases and place the smaller ones on top and brush with egg. 
4) Bake for 20 mins when golden allow to cool in the tin and then when cool pop them out and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Bob's your uncle ,easy peasy , enjoy :)                               

Happy baking