Crispy, buttery pastry and an incredibly juicy, flavour-packed spiced fruit filling make these mince pies the ultimate Christmas treat. They’re DELICIOUS, easier than you’d think and the best way to usher in Christmas. Plus, they make wonderful gifts over the festive season.

I’m not sure there’s a bigger sign that Christmas is coming than a beautiful batch of homemade Christmas mince pies. Plus, the smell that will come from your kitchen when you’re making them is truly glorious and will really get you in a Christmassy mood.

I was never actually a fan of mince pies growing up, but over the past 5 or so years, I’ve realised how seriously delicious and Christmassy they really are. This recipe is based on the one my grandmother has made every year for as long as I remember, and I’ve made a couple of tweaks over the years as I’ve made them over and over again.

These pies also make wonderful gifts. I love making a big batch (this recipe makes enough fruit mince for A LOT of pies), popping them into little gift boxes or wrapping them in cellophane for family and friends to enjoy over the festive season.

I’m breaking down the whole process here, with all my tips and tricks along the way. We’ll make the fruit mince, make the pastry and then make the pies themselves. They’re definitely a labour of love, but they’re the perfect December weekend baking activity. Pop on a Christmas playlist and just enjoy the process!

In this point – everything you need for making Christmas mince pies

• Ingredients you’ll need for the fruit mince and pastry
• How to make the fruit mince
• How to make the pastry
• How to make the pies
• Watch how to make them
• Your questions answered

Ingredients

There are a lot of ingredients that go into the pies – but the beauty of them is you really can make them your own based on what you like best.

For the fruit mince –

• Apples. Use a sweet baking apple – this is a great recipe to use up any slightly past their best, bruised apples you might have lying around.
• Dried fruit. The recipe uses a mix of currants, sultanas, apricots and glacé cherries (candied cherries) but you can play around with the fruit. You could use raisins, cranberries or even mango. Just keep the volume of the dried fruit the same if you are going to make some swaps. You can also use packets of mixed dried fruit for ease.
• Almonds. I love adding nuts in for texture. You could use pecans, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts or pistachios too – just make sure they’re unsalted.
• Desiccated coconut. This also brings a lovely texture and different flavour to the mince, but you can leave it out if you like.
• Fruit peel. Some people don’t like the taste of this, so you can leave it out if you’re one of them! Just replace it with more dried fruit.
• Spices. I’m using ground cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg and cardamom. Cardamom is the only one that might be tricky to find so if you struggle, just use more cinnamon in its place.
• Vegetarian suet. Traditional mince pies are made with beef suet, but I like swapping it for vegetarian. It’s essentially vegetable oil. This can be hard to find outside of the UK, so you could also use butter (unsalted ideally) or coconut oil.
• Brandy. This is going to help the mince develop loads of delicious flavour, and really makes them taste properly Christmassy. You could also use whiskey, rum or spiced rum or for an alcohol-free version, use apple juice.
• Caster sugar. Use regular granulated sugar if you can’t find it.

For the pastry

• Plain flour. Regular white flour is fine – you could also use self-raising flour, just leave out the baking powder.
• Butter. It needs to be fridge-cold when you add it.
• Icing sugar. I prefer using icing sugar in the pastry because it properly disappears into the pastry texture-wise, but you could also use plain granulated or caster sugar.

You’ll also need a mini-muffin tin (or use a regular muffin tin for larger pies), a small round cookie cutter and (if you’re going to top them with pastry stars) a little star-shaped cutter. If you don’t have a cookie cutter, you can cut circles out with a knife or trace around the rim of a small glass or coffee cup.

How to make Christmas fruit mince

Peel and core your apples, then chop them into rough chunks. Add them to the bowl of a food processor, then blitz until they break down into a chunky paste. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Working in stages, blitz the dried fruit, peel, almonds and suet in the same bowl (no need to clean it in between). Transfer everything to the bowl, then pour in the brandy. Give everything a really good mix with a large wooden spoon, then cover it tightly with aluminium foil or plastic wrap and sit on the bench. Let it sit to let the fruit macerate and develop flavour for 3 days on the bench, stirring it once a day.

If you don’t have a food processor: Chop the apples as finely as you can, or grate them with a box grater. Chop the dried fruit and nuts roughly, then add them to your mixing bowl with the suet, sugar, spices, coconut, salt and brandy.

PRO TIP: You don’t have to let the fruit mince mature over 3 days – you can use it right away if you like. The longer you let it sit – the better the flavour is (but it’ll still be delicious!)

How to make the pastry

When you’re ready to have your Christmassy afternoon and make the pies, get the flour, baking powder, salt and icing sugar in to the bowl of a food processor and pulse a couple of times to mix together. Add the chopped cold butter, and pulse again until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. With the motor running, pour in the whisked egg and milk and keep the motor running until the pastry comes together – it’ll look like little beads. At this point, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and form a rough circle. Wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

How to make the pies

Grease your mini muffin tin (or regular muffin tin) with butter or oil. The easiest way I find to roll out pastry is to sandwich it between two sheets of baking paper. This just reduces any possibility of it sticking to your surface or your rolling pin. I normally cut the pastry in half (put the other half back in the fridge). Roll it out thinly (about 3mm), then using a cutter just larger than your muffin tins, cut out circles of pastry. Carefully peel the circles out of the pastry and press into the greased tin. Don’t worry if the pastry tears as you do this – just patch it up with more pastry. Ball up the scraps and reroll the pastry, continuing until you’ve used it all.

PRO TIP: If you’re finding the pastry at all sticky and tricky to work with, pop it back into the fridge for 10 minutes to cool down. Once the butter starts melting pastry becomes harder to work with (and it also means you won’t get as crispy a result in the oven).

Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the fruit mince into the pastry cases, pressing the filling down into the pastry with the back of your spoon. You can fill it right to the top of your case. Roll out the remaining pastry and use a cutter to cut out little pastry stars. Top the pies with the stars, then pop into the oven for 20 – 25 minutes until golden. You might find the pies around the edges of the tins cook faster than the ones in the middle – make sure you check and see how they’re going. Once they”re golden brown, they’re ready.

Let the pies sit in the tins for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack to cool fully. Dust with icing sugar (use a sieve) and devour.

PRO TIP: Don’t skip letting them cool slightly in the tins – if you try to get them out right away you’ll find they may crumble and break.

Watch how to make them

Got a question?

Like this recipe? Here are more festive ideas you might enjoy

If you make these mince pies, I’d love to hear from you! You can leave me a comment below.

How to Make Christmas Fruit Mince Pies

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★★★★★

5 from 1 review

• Author: Kate Alexandra
• Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
• Yield: 48 pies 1x
• Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

Crispy, buttery pastry and an incredibly juicy, flavour-packed spiced fruit filling make these mince pies the ultimate Christmas treat. They’re DELICIOUS, easier than you’d think and the best way to usher in Christmas. Plus, they make wonderful gifts over the festive season.

I’m breaking down the whole process here – making the fruit mince, making the pastry, and then making the pies themselves. Settle in with a great Christmas playlist and enjoy a festive baking afternoon1

Remember, if you’re looking for cup measurements, just use the ‘Units’ section below and click on ‘US’.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

For the fruit mince –

• 1kg apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped
• 250g currants (1 1/2 cups)
• 250g sultanas (1 1/2 cups)
• 250g dried apricots, chopped (1 cup)
• 200g mixed fruit peel (1 cup)
• 200g glacé cherries (1 cup)
• 250g vegetarian suet (1.5 cups)
• 500g caster sugar (2 1/4 cups)
• 1 cup almonds
• 1/2 cup desiccated coconut
• 1 tablespoon allspice
• 1 tablespoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup brandy

For the pastry –

• 240g plain flour
• 50g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 120g cold butter, cut into cubes
• 1 egg, whisked
• 1 tablespoon milk (or use water)

Equipment –

• Food processor (I have given instructions for what to do if you don’t have one).
• Mini muffin tray (or use a regular muffin tray for larger pies).
• Small round cookie cutter (or use the rim of a small glass) and a small star cutter.

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Instructions

To make the fruit mince –

1. If you have a food processor. Add the peeled, cored and roughly chopped apples to the bowl of your food processor. Blitz until they form a chunky paste then transfer to a large mixing bowl. Working in a couple of batches, add the currants, sultanas, dried apricots, almonds, pecans, toasted coconut, mixed peel, glacé cherries, allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon, cardamom, caster sugar, salt and vegetarian suet to the bowl of the food processor and blitz to chop and mix them all up. Transfer to the mixing bowl with the apples. 
2. If you don’t have a food processor: Chop the apples very finely, or grate them with a box grater. Chop the dried fruit and nuts roughly, then add them to your mixing bowl with the suet, sugar, spices, coconut and salt. 
3. Mix the fruit mince and macerate. Pour in the brandy and give everything a very good mix with a large wooden spoon or spatula. Cover tightly with plastic wrap or aluminium foil and let sit at room temperature for 3 days, stirring every day. PRO TIP: You don’t have to let the fruit mince macerate over time – the purpose is for the apple juice and brandy to soften and plump up the dried fruit and to intensify the flavour, but if you want to use it right away, you can.

To make the pastry –

1. If you have a food processor. Add the flour, baking powder, icing sugar and salt to the bowl of your food processor and pulse a couple of times, to mix everything together. Add the cold butter and pulse again. The mixture will look like floury breadcrumbs at this point. Whisk the egg and milk together in a cup, then with the motor running, pour the mixture into the food processor until the pastry starts to come together. It’ll start looking like little yellow beads. At this point, it’s ready.
2. If you don’t have a food processor: Add the flour, baking powder, icing sugar and salt to a large mixing bowl. Mix the ingredients together so they’re all combined, then add the butter. Use your fingers to rub the butter and flour mix together, until it starts to look like little breadcrumbs. Try to break up the butter as much as you can, but don’t worry hugely if there are little chunks of butter in the bowl. Whisk the egg and milk together in a cup, then slowly drizzle it into the bowl, mixing with a knife until the pastry starts to come together – if you press it in your hand, it should hold in place. Once it’s at that point, it’s ready (you might not need all of the milk/egg).
3. Let it rest. Lightly flour a clean, flat surface and transfer the pastry onto it. Bring it together with your hands into a rough circle. Wrap it tightly with plastic wrap, then pop it into the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

To make the fruit mince pies – 

1. Roll out the pastry. When you’re ready to make your pies, heat your oven to 200C fan and grease your mini muffin tin. Prepare two pieces of baking paper, about 50cm x 50cm. Get the pastry out of the fridge and cut it in half. Place one half in the middle of one sheet of baking paper, then rewrap the other half in plastic wrap in put back in the fridge. Place the other sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry, then smack down on it with a rolling pin to help flatten in. Roll the pastry out thinly – about 5mm. Peel back the top layer of baking paper, then using a small cookie cutter (or the rim of a small glass), cut out circles a little larger than your muffin tin. Caerfully peel them off the baking paper, and press into the lined tin. Don’t worry if the pastry tears, you can just patch it up with more pastry.
2. Fill the pies. Once you’ve the tin with pastry cases, spoon in a heaped teaspoon of the fruit mince into the cases. Use the back of your spoon to press the filling down into the cases.
3. Top the pies. Bundle up your pastry scraps, then re-roll them using the baking paper. Use a small star cutter to cut out little star shapes (you can do any shape you like – or cut out small circles to top the whole pies). Carefully peel the stars up and place on top of the fruit mince pies in the tin.
4. Bake the pies. Transfer to the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until the pies are looking golden brown and smelling unbelievable. Remove the tin from the oven and let the pies sit in the tin for about 10 minutes before carefully removing them and transferring to a wire rack to cool fully. Use a sieve to dust with icing sugar, and serve.

Notes

The mince pies will keep well for at least 1 week, stored in an airtight container at room temperature. The pastry will soften a little in that time, but they’ll still taste glorious.

Switch out the dried fruit for what you like best – just keep the volume the same. If you can’t find something don’t worry, just use more of something else.

Swap out the nuts – pistachios, walnuts, cashews or hazelnuts would be great too!

If you make larger pies in a regular muffin tin, you’ll need to add to the cooking time. Check after 25 minutes and see how they look – you want them to be golden brown all around the pastry.

The pastry will keep well for 1 week in the fridge and can be frozen. Just make sure you wrap it tightly with plastic wrap first. Defrost overnight in the fridge.

You can make the fruit mince WELL in advance – store it in sterilised jars (here’s how to sterilise jars) in the cupboard and it will be absolutely fine for months. The sugar and the brandy act as preservatives. Plus, the mince will taste even better with time. This recipe makes a lot of fruit mincemeat – enough for a couple of batches of pies.

Use store-bought sweet shortcrust pastry if you prefer, but I promise this recipe is super easy. 

• Prep Time: 60
• Cook Time: 20
• Category: baking
• Method: oven
• Cuisine: british

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1 pies

Keywords: mince pies, christmas baking, christmas mince pies