Tartitas de Navidad (Christmas Mince Pies with a Mexican Touch)
Hi guys! I hope you are all enjoying the Christmas season despite some sad things that are happening in the world right now. Christmas for me is a special time and I always try to enjoy it to the most, I usually make lots of nice Christmas activities with my children, like, decorating the tree, bake Christmas cookies, write to Christmas letters to Santa and make nice homemade pressies for my friends.
Every Christmas I try to make something new to give to my friends and neighbour and this year I thought of making my own Christmas mince pies with a touch of my Mexico, so instead of using brandy I used mezcal and the little pies just tasted divine!
It is such a great idea for a homemade present, once the pies are ready, you just have to wrap them in little bags, put a nice Christmas ribbon and they are ready to give as a nice present.
I followed  Paul’s Hollywood recipe for the quantities to make the pastry but I added my own touch.  They are extremely easy to make and believe me, if I made them, you definitely can. So here is the easiest recipe ever!
Makes around 24 small mince pies
Ingredients
For the Pastry
- 375g plain flour
- 260g unsalted butter, softened
- 125g caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 large egg
- plus 1 beaten egg for glazing
- zest of a satsuma
For the filling
- A jar of mincemeat
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
- 1 satsuma wedges chopped
- 3 tbsp of a good mezcal or tequila
To decorate
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
Method
- Put the flour and butter in a bowl and mix them to a crumb consistency.
- Add the sugar and the egg, and mix together. Tip out onto a lightly floured surface and fold until the pastry comes together. Don’t over mix. Wrap the pastry in cling film and chill in the fridge for 15 min.
- Put the mincemeat into a bowl and add the chopped pistachios, satsumas and mezcal. Mix very well and set aside.
- Heat oven to 180 C/ gas mark 6. Roll out the pastry to 3mm thick. Using a round cutter (about 10cm), cut the bases and place them into a mince pie tray. Put 1/2 tbsp of mincemeat mixture into each pie.
- Beat the egg and brush the edge of each pie with it. Roll out the pastry again to make the lids, you can use a star cookie cutter or any Christmas shape. I used a star cutter to make some with mezcal and a heart cutter to make them with no alcohol. Brush them again with the egg and sprinkle them with sugar.
- Bake them for around 15 mins or until golden brown. Leave to cool for 5 min. Then place them onto a cooling tray and once cooled sprinkle them with icing sugar. Enjoy!
Listo!
Provecho!
