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.