BLOGMAS DAY FOUR: FRANGIPANE MINCE PIES

Hello everyone, welcome to blogmas day four and the first "Christmas Treats" post of the month! Mince pies are such a cult classic at this time of year, as they are a tasty yet super simple dessert. As mince pies are super simple to make, i decided i wanted to add that something extra, to make them even tastier i decided to pair them with a frangipane topping rather than your traditional pastry lid/decorative star...

250g plain flour

125g butter cut into cubes

2 eggs

2 tablespoons orange juice

45g caster sugar

45g butter

45g ground almonds

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

1 jar mincemeat (either homemade or shop bought)

2 tablespoons flaked almonds

2 tablespoons nibbed sugar

Place the flour and cubed butter into a food processor and mix until the two become a breadcrumb-like consistency, before adding in one of the eggs. Next slowly add the orange juice a dribble at a time, until the mixture begins to form a ball shape. Remove from the food processor, before shaping the mixture into a flat disk in cling film and refrigerating for an hour. To make the frangipane, take the second egg and the caster sugar whisking the two together until a glossy-like texture. Melt the butter, before slowly adding it into the egg mixture. Whilst still beating the mixture, add in the ground almonds and the vanilla essence. Pre-heat your oven to 180c/350f/gasmark4. Roll out the chilled pastry mixture to around 5mm thin, cut 12 circles of pastry and gently push each disk into the baking moulded tin. Add in a tablespoon of the mincemeat and flatten with a spoon before pouring a tablespoon of the frangipane mixture over the mincemeat, before finishing off by scattering flaked almonds and nibbed sugar. Bake in the oven for around  15-20 minutes or until golden brown, once out of the oven leave to cool completely on a wire rack before dusting in icing sugar.

♥