The Gardening Foodie

Fruit Mince Pies

I just love the wonderful aroma of baking around Christmas and these fruit mince pies really add to that deliciousness and festive feeling.

Fruit mince pies

Here in South Africa, you know that the festive season is here when the stores start to display trays of delicious fruit mince pies. The fruit mince is a tangy, sweet and sour mix of apples, currants, mixed peel and orange and it pairs perfectly with a scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.

I love to bake my own mince pies, the smell of the delicious fruit baking in this melt in your mouth short crust pastry is absolutely warming and divine.

Fruit mince pies

These fruit mince pies are made with delicious short crust pastry and filled with traditional spiced fruit mincemeat, and dusted with sugar. These pies are really simple and quick to prepare and quickly eaten up as well.

I  usually use the jar of fruit mince which you get in stores.  Homemade fruitmince is great, but that is a recipe for another day.

In fact all that’s done  here is the pastry, which takes about 5 minutes to prepare and 10 minutes to chill. I usually chill the pastry in the freezer instead of the fridge,  for about 10 minutes. I feel that it firms up the pastry a bit more and is easier to handle.

MAKING THE FRUIT MINCE PIES IS EASY

Fruit mince pies are baked in a shallow tart pan or a deep muffin pan, if you prefer.  After the pastry has chilled, roll it out to about 4mm thick and cut out the base for each pie.

I used a cookie cutter to cut out the circular bases so that they were the perfect size to fit into the tin but use of whatever you have to get the right size to fit into your pan.Fruit mince pies

Line the tart or muffin tin with the cut off bases. Place about a teaspoon of fruit mince into each.

Fruit mince pies

Re roll the pastry and cut out covers, cutting out decorative stars if you prefer as well. Use this to form a lid on the pie pressing on the edges to seal.

Fruit mince pies

Brush the tops with a little milk  and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  After they have cooled, dust with powdered or castor sugar

Fruit mince pies

See how pretty it looks dusted with powdered sugar.

Fruit mince pies

These absolutely delicious little pastries taste so amazing just warm out of the oven, it almost never lasts for dessert, but when it does, it is enjoyed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the boys, but just with a cup of coffee for me.

But however you choose to serve fruit mince pies, it is sure to be loved and enjoyed.

Enjoy ♥

5 from 5 votes
FRUIT MINCE PIES
Print
Fruit mince pies
Prep Time
5 mins
Cook Time
15 mins
Total Time
20 mins
 
I just love the wonderful aroma of baking around Christmas and these fruit mince pies really add to that deliciousness and festive feeling.
Servings: 18 mince pies
Author: Gardening Foodie
Ingredients
  • 1 x 454g jar fruit mince / fruit mincemeat
FOR THE PASTRY
  • ½ cup / 125g butter or margarine
  • ½ cup / 112g castor or white granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup / 60ml buttermilk or 5 ml lemon juice mixed into ¼ cup of milk
  • 2 cups / 240g cake flour / all purpose flour / plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions

  1. Start by making the pastry by creaming the sugar and butter or margarine.

  2. Add the buttermilk and beat well until light and creamy.
  3. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt.
  4. Knead lightly to form a soft dough. Place in the fridge or freezer for about 10 minutes.

  5. Heat the oven 160°C / 325°F

  6. Roll out the pastry to 3cm thick. Using a round cutter , cut out and place them into greased or sprayed tart or muffin pans
  7. Put 1 tsp fruit mince mixture into each.
  8. Re-roll out the pastry to cut out covers and press them on top to seal.
  9. Brush tops with milk.
  10. Bake mince pies for 10-15 mins until golden brown.
  11. Remove from tray and place on cooling rack.
  12. Dust with sifted powdered sugar.
  13. Store for up to 3 days in an airtight container.

 

 

 

 


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Comments

  2. These look so perfect and I love the part that they are portable as well. These would be a lovely and refreshing change to a platter full of cookies. Love the cute star cut out on top..so Christmassy!!! Have a fabulous weekend dear:)

    Reply

    • Thank you Stacey, Oh yes this is such a classic recipe, everybody with their own version, but always delicious, perfect and so special.
      Have a great week Stacey 🙂

      Reply

  6. These are such cute little treats!! I have never had a fruit mince pie before, but I can imagine how good these taste! Love your simple recipe Ashika! I would love to try this in place of the regular fruit cake that I bake every year for Christmas! Thanks for sharing!

    Reply

  10. I had completely forgotten about mince pie! My mom made it every year when I was a kid and I loved it then. I’ve never even made it for my own kids, this is a great idea! Thanks for the quick and easy recipe!

    Reply

    • Hahaha, my son loves these pies so much and always asking for me to bake it for him, so I definitely cannot forget.
      I am so glad that you like the recipe and that you get to make it as well 🙂

      Reply


  12. I feel bad, Ashika, that this is the first year I’ve actually NOT made mince pies! I’ve bought them to save time!

    My recipe is remarkably similar to yours though, and I always use shop bought mincemeat like yourself as it’s more convenient.

    Thanks for the reminder, but also thanks for posting because its great to be reminded just how good home made mince pies are, as I expect these ARE! 🙂

    Reply

    • Oh, don’t feel bad Neil, this is such a crazy busy time and we have to save time somewhere, I am just as guilty of grabbing something fromthe bakery instead of making it by myself…sometimes it is just too exhausting.

      I am so glad that you get fruit mince in your stores. It is not as widely available as I thought and I have been getting many enquiries from other countries on my Facebook groups about how to make the filling itself as they do not get it in the local stores.
      I am glad that you like the recipe…homemade is really good 🙂

      Reply

  16. I have never had fruit mince pies, but I’ve love to have one right now. They look and sound delicious! After overloading on super sweet treats this past week, I’m loving the sound of a dessert that has tanginess and sourness mixed in with the sweetness.

    Reply

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