Traditional fruit mince pies are a quintessential Christmas treat. Crumbly shortcrust pasty filled with homemade fruit mince that is bursting with fruit and rum or brandy.
My homemade fruit mince recipe has been on Belly Rumbles for over a decade. It's my go-to recipe, and I'm happy that it has been a big hit with readers.
I thought sharing my recipe for fruit mince pies was well and truly overdue.
Happy baking!
Sara xxx
Plan ahead of time for Christmas
To make your life easier when Christmas rolls around. Make the fruit mince a few months ahead of time and store it in the fridge. The pastry can be made two months ahead and stored in the freezer.
Or do what I often do, buy a good quality frozen shortcrust pastry like Carême's vanilla bean shortcrust pastry. I've been using their products for years, and nothing on the Australian market can compete.
Store homemade fruit mince in sterilised jars in the fridge. My recipe for fruit mince will keep in the fridge for 12 months.
Wrap prepared short shortcrust pastry in a couple of layers of plastic wrap and place in a ziplock bag in the freezer.
Defrost pastry in the fridge when ready to use it.
Storing fruit mince pies
Baked tarts can be kept in the fridge for up to three weeks in an air-tight container. Before serving place the fruit mince pies in the oven at 150°C/300°F for 10 minutes to freshen them up. Put them on a plate, and once cooled dust with icing sugar and serve.
Using store-bought fruit mince
Would you prefer to buy fruit mince instead of making it from scratch? Making fruit mince for pies is super easy, but if you don't want to, I get it.
You can add an extra zing to store-bought fruit mince. The day before you are baking your mincemeat pies, stir a tablespoon or two (or three) of brandy or rum through the fruit mince.
Printable Recipe
Fruit Mince Pies
Ingredients
- 1 quantity fruit mince
Shortcrust Pasty
- 300 g (2 cups) plain flour
- 2 tablespoons almond meal
- 180 g (6.35oz) cold butter, chopped
- 1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- 40 g (¼ cup) icing sugar (powdered sugar)
- 1 egg yolk
- 60 ml (¼ cup) milk
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
Instructions
Make the fruit mince at least three days before starting this recipe.
Shortcrust Pastry - hand method
- Sift flour into a large bowl and stir in the almond meal. Add the cold cubes of butter and rub into the flour.
- Mix in lemon zest and sifted icing sugar.
- Stir in egg yolk and gradually add the milk until the ingredients come together. You may not need to use all the milk.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
- Wrap in plastic or place in a ziplock bag (removing all the air) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Shortcrust Pastry - food processor method
- Place flour, almond meal, and chilled cubes of butter in the food processor bowl. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- Add lemon zest and sifted icing sugar. Pulse quickly to mix through.
- Add egg yolk and a couple of tablespoons of milk. Pulse, and add more milk (if needed), until the mixture comes together. (see Note 1)
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
- Wrap in plastic or place in a ziplock bag (removing all the air) and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Baking the Fruit Mince Pies
- Preheat oven to 200°C/395°F (180°C/360°F fan-forced).
- Grease two 12-hole, shallow, cupcake pans.
- Roll pastry on a lightly floured surface until it is 3mm thick.
- Using a floured round cookie cutter, cut 7.5cm/3 inch rounds and press into the prepared pans. Drop tablespoons of fruit mince into each pastry case.
- Bring pastry scraps together into a ball and re-roll on a floured surface. Cut out your desired shapes.
- Brush each pastry shape with the beaten egg and place the pastry egg-side down on top of the fruit mince pies.
- Bake pies for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Dust with a little sifted icing sugar before serving.
Oven Temperatures
All oven temperatures are fan forced.
Measurement Notes
All measurements are Australian metric standard. All measures are level, and cups are lightly packed unless specified. 1 teaspoon = 5ml / 1 tablespoon = 20mls / 1 cup = 250ml /4 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon.
Recipe Notes
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION
The recipe's nutritional information is an approximation based on an online calculator. It is meant solely for reference purposes. If you're looking for precise details, be sure to double-check with your own research.
Kay
Finally!!! The mince pie recipe. Well worth the wait LOL. I did use store bought pastry (as I have in the past), but with homemade mince.
Louise
I made these for Christmas gifts, really tasty, and are great gifting.
Jane
These are one of my favourite Christmas treats. I could eat them all year.