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It's Christmas, and thank you, I don't mind if I do - yes, I like a mince pie. But often with the ones I'm offered, I find the balance of pastry overwhelms the filling. These aren't quite the traditional pastry mince pies, but are made from puff pastry to be lighter, airier and absolutely delicious.
Ingredients:
1 Puff pastry ready rolled sheet
320g jar mincemeat
Egg-wash
Flaked almonds
Icing sugar
Method
Preheat oven to 200⁰C.
Take the puff pastry sheet out of the fridge and unroll onto a clean lightly floured work surface. Spread a thin layer of mincemeat over the entire pastry, and then roll the pastry up (like a swiss roll, widthways). Place back in the fridge for 20 mins. Take out and with a sharp knife cut it into appx. 24 slices.
Place each pie flat side down either on to a prepared baking tray lined with parchment paper, or you can place each one in the individual hole of a greased muffin tray, (as they may keep their shape a little better). Egg wash the top of each and then sprinkle flaked almonds over the top. Place in the oven for appx. 18 mins, until pastry has puffed and browned.
Take out the oven and allow to cool, then sprinkle with icing sugar. Ask the family to form an orderly queue. These disappear fast.
Enjoy.
Gaby Van Clarke
None of us know what’s going to take us out. Life’s full of surprises. But we do know that the body starts to degenerate from about age 30 (more cells destroyed than created, barring excess weight gain) and also, crucially, that we can affect the speed of that ageing process.
Introduced by Portuguese merchants in the 16th century, and adapted over time to suit Japanese tastes, this light bouncy sponge is considered a traditional Japanese speciality. More delicate and airy than a regular sponge cake, castella ( カステラ, kasutera) is famous for a fine and moist crumb.
