Are you looking for a Christmas pie recipe that’s easy to make and slightly different from the traditional recipes? Then try this gingerbread mince pie! It’s a combination of two very traditional Christmas dishes: gingerbread everything and mince pies. Your family will love this twist, so let’s get baking.
Top Tip: Include your little ones wherever you can. Does the dough need kneading? Ask the kids to help with it. Need a little helper to mix in the ingredients? Your munchkins will be happy to help. Including them will be a bonding time and teach them their way around the kitchen.
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 1 ½ cups + 1 tablespoon plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 3 tablespoons golden caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 egg, beaten
For the mince pie filling
- 8 cups mincemeat
- ½ cup stem ginger, chopped
- 1 tablespoon ginger syrup
Preparation
For pastry dough
- Start by placing the flour, spices, and butter into a large bowl with a large pinch of salt.
- Mix all the ingredients with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Blend in the sugar.
- Add the egg and use a butter knife to mix everything until the ingredients start to clump together.
- Remove the mixture onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until you have a smooth dough. You can even pulse the ingredients together in a food processor.
- Once the dough is smooth, shape it into one large disc.
- Wrap it in a parchment paper and chill for at least 30 minutes.
For gingerbread mince pie
- Mix the mincemeat with chopped ginger and syrup.
- Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a 3 mm thickness.
- Cut 12 discs using an 8 cm biscuit cutter and place them into a 12-hole cupcake tin, pressing them down lightly to take the shape of the container.
- Re-roll the pastry scraps and stamp out 12 mini gingerbread people with the help of a biscuit cutter. For that matter, you can choose the shapes your kiddos like. Ask them to pick a biscuit cutter of their choice and help with this step.
Assembling the gingerbread mince pie
- Fill each pastry case with 1 tablespoon of the mincemeat mixture.
- Place the cut gingerbread people (or whatever shape you went with) on top of each pie.
- Bake the pies for 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 374 degrees Fahrenheit till it turns slightly golden brown.
- Once baked, leave the gingerbread mince pie to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before moving it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar for the final touch, and enjoy!
The best thing is you can pre-prep these gingerbread mince pies and store them, making things easier for you during the holiday season. The pastry dough can be chilled for about three months. Meanwhile, you can freeze the mincemeat-filled pastry cases for up to two months.
If you are baking the frozen gingerbread mince pie, make sure to bake it for 30 minutes. Once baked, the pies can even be stored in airtight containers for up to four days. So, make these Christmas delicacies now to relish them later on the 25th.
