Paleo Cranberry Mince Pies

It’s simply not Christmas if you don’t have mince pies at the table, fact. I’ve given last year’s Paleo Star Topped Mince Pies a much needed festive upgrade with a jeweled, ruby red cranberry mincemeat that’s festively spiced but seriously refreshing – none of that overbearing sweetness but rather a bitter-sweetly delicate tang. Not to mention some gorgeous hints of booze thrown in for good measure (naturally).  Your guests, family, and nearest and dearest will have no idea that the shortcrust pastry is in fact gluten and grain free – it’s light, crumbly, and festively flavoured with fresh orange juice.

These Paleo Cranberry Mince Pies will bring a little Christmas glamour and finesse to any dinner table. Enjoy!

Paleo Cranberry Mince Pies

Makes: 12-16 Mince Pies

Preparation Time: 1hr 15 minutes (including resting time for pastry)

Cooking Time: 10 minutes

Please note that all cup measurements used are British cups and equal to 250ml.

Ingredients:

For the Pastry:

100g tapioca flour
50g Sukrin Almond Flour
100g cold raw grass-fed unsalted butter (or 50g coconut oil)
Pinch of Himalayan pink salt
Juice of 1 orange

For the filling:

1 Slightly heaped cup of Paleo Cranberry Mincemeat

For Decoration:

1 tbsp of Paleo Fragrant Spiced Faux Icing Sugar

Utensils:

7 cm/2.75″  Stainless Steel Crinkle Cutter
4.7cm/1.85″ Star Cutter (a 2″ one would work fine)
Fairy cake tin with indentations 0.5″ deep with the bottom diameter of 2″ and top 2.75″ (I picked mine up at Morrisons!)
Rolling pin

Method:

1. Either purchase or make your own mincemeat in advance! Click the link in the ingredients and follow the cooking instructions there.
2. In a small mixing bowl sieve in your flours and salt.
3. Chop your butter into small cubes and throw in.
4. Cover the bowl with cling film, give it a good shake until the butter is covered by the flour and then place into the freezer for 20 minutes. This is what makes your pastry lovely and light and crumbly.
5. In the meantime freshly squeeze your orange juice and pop that into the fridge to chill until needed.
6. Remove your flour and butter bowl from the freezer and pour into your food processor. Process until it comes together into small oat like sized balls.
7. Pulse in your orange juice by the tablespoon. It is not likely that you will require much more than half of it at this stage. You just want to use enough for it to only just form the beginnings of a dough ball. Place your orange juice back into the fridge.
8. Remove the pastry from the processor and form by hand into a ball. Cover in cling film and leave to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
9. Pre-heat your oven to 180C and gather all of your utensils.
10. Remove your dough from the fridge place back into the food processor and pulse in 1 tsp of your chilled orange juice. Process on full speed until the dough has warmed up enough to be handled.
11. Lightly dust your work surface and rolling pin with some tapioca flour.
12. Take a small handful of dough at a time to work with (enough for 2 pies) and roll into a ball with your hands. Place the dough onto the work surface and roll it out fairly thin but not so thin that it will break when placed into your cake tin. Roll this pastry very lightly otherwise it will likely tear apart. Also keep on top of the dusting as it may stick to your work surface!
13. Cut out your bases with the large crinkle cutter. If you want a traditional look use the crinkle side if you want to go for a more modern look like I have then use the back. If you have trouble removing the dough from the work surface use a small cake spatula to scrape underneath carefully and then lift.
14. Cut out your stars.
15. Pop the bases into the cake tin and gently press them down and around the outer edges. Fill with 1 heaped tbsp of Paleo Cranberry Mincemeat. You want them to be full to the top but not brimming! Top with your stars pressing down as gently as possible. Repeat this process until you have filled the tin. Sometimes the dough may need a quick blitz in the food processor but it should be ok.
16. Place your mince pies into the oven for 10 minutes until golden brown. This may take less or more time so keep a watchful eye as they love to cook quickly! Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing them and placing them onto a wire rack.
17. Once completely cool lightly dust them with the Paleo icing sugar (or a little tapioca flour) and enjoy!