New Zealand Mince and Cheese Pies

One cut open mince and cheese pie on a plate with beef and cheese filling oozing out, with tomato sauce on the side and another small mince and cheese pie on the plate behind it.

5 from 1 vote

New Zealand Mince and Cheese Pies

Mince and cheese pies are an absolute New Zealand classic for a reason. Crispy buttery pastry, intensely savoury minced beef and a creamy, oozy cheese topping? Yes please!

I love making these as mini pies for the ultimate party bite which always go down a storm.

Prep Time10

Cook Time45

Total Time55

Course: baking

Cuisine: new zealand

Keyword: mince pies, party pies, savoury pies

Servings: mini pies

Calories: 341kcal

Author: Kate Phillips

Ingredients

For the mince filling -

500 g good quality beef mince 1 lb
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion finely diced
½ teaspoon salt
3 garlic cloves crushed
2 anchovies
2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
350 ml beef stock 1 ½ cups

For the béchamel -

1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons butter 30g
2 teaspoons white miso paste optional
2 tablespoons plain flour
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup mature cheddar cheese grated
½ cup creamy blue cheese grated or crumbled (use more cheddar if you're not into blue cheese)

For the pies -

2 packs ready-rolled puff pastry try to find an all butter puff pastry
1 egg for the egg wash
Muffin tin or pie dish
Butter for greasing

Instructions

Soften the onion and garlic.
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and ½ teaspoon of salt and cook, stirring, for a couple of minutes, until starting to soften. Add the crushed garlic and 2 anchovies. Stir, letting the anchovies melt into the oil, for a couple of minutes
Brown the beef.
Add the beef mince and cook, stirring, until browned, breaking it up with your spoon or spatula as it does.
Thicken the filling.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of cornflour over the beef, and mix it through. Add 1 teaspoon fish sauce, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, and 350ml of beef stock. Stir, then bring to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes, until thickened nicely. You want it to be like a really thick gravy, and not liquidy at all. Keep simmering if it's still a bit runny. If it's too runny, it can leak out of the pastry in the oven. Remove from the heat.

You want to cool the filling before assembling and baking the pies - at least a couple of hours in the fridge. Transfer it to a shallow container and pop it into the fridge.

Start the cheesy béchamel.
Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, then add 2 teaspoons of white miso paste if you're using it. Add 2 tablespoons of flour, whisking to combine into a paste (roux), and keep whisking to cook out the raw flour for a couple of minutes.
Add the milk and cheese.
Turn the heat to low and slowly pour in the milk, whisking as you go. It'll thicken, then thin as you keep whisking. Keep stirring as it thickens and starts bubbling gently. It should end up like a very thick gravy. Add the salt and nutmeg, then all the cheese, stirring as it melts into the sauce.
Taste, and add a little more salt if needed (this will depend on how salty your cheese is). Remove from the heat and let cool, then transfer to the fridge to cool completely.
Prepare the oven and tin.
When you're ready to cook your pies, get your oven heating to 200°C fanbake (400°F) and grease your muffin tin (or pie dish) with butter.
Prepare the pastry.
There are a couple of ways to assemble your pies. You can take a whole sheet of pastry and lay it over the tin, then push it into the tin, or you can cut out rounds and line the tin that way. I normally use a whole sheet of pastry because it's quicker!
Whichever way you choose, make sure you press the pastry firmly into the bottom and sides of the tin, and that there is an overlap of pastry over the top of each hole, so that the top has something to stick to.
Fill the pies.
Spoon about 1 ½ tablespoons of the beef filling into each pastry case, then top with about 2 teaspoons of the cheesy sauce.
The key here is not to overfill your pies (I have done this so many times and it's VERY sad when they explode in the oven).
The filling will bubble up inside the pastry, so you need to leave a little room and make sure your pastry lid is sealed really well.
Egg wash and seal the pies.
Whisk your egg in a bowl with a fork, then brush the whisked egg around the edges of the pastry. This helps the pastry lids stick. Lay the second sheet of pastry over the pies, pressing down firmly to seal the edges.
Use the edge of a large glass, or a cookie cutter, to trim the excess pastry by pressing down around the edge of each pie.
Seal the edges of each pie by pressing the edges with the back of a fork. Brush the tops of the pies with the egg wash again, then pierce each lid with a fork to create space to let steam escape during baking.
Bake the pies.
Transfer the tin to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, until golden all around and super crispy. Let them cool for a few minutes in the tin before carefully removing each pie and placing them on a wire rack. Enjoy while hot with a good tomato sauce on the side.

Sometimes when I'm using a muffin tin, I find the pies around the outside of the tin cook more quickly than the ones in the middle. Check them after 20 minutes and see how they're going. If the ones around the outside look finished, remove them from the tray and keep cooking the ones in the middle.

Notes

The pies freeze really well. Just pack them into zip lock bags after cooking, and then you can cook them straight from frozen at 180C/360F for 20 minutes.

A classic mince and cheese pie is made with grated cheese or cheese slices rather than the béchamel, so if you want to skip making it, you can just use cheese by itself.

You can make this as one big pie instead of mini party pies, or smaller individual pies.

Nutrition