Christmas fruit mince pies
I am not an ardent Christmas lover. I grit my teeth through the
panicked present purchasing and seasonally inappropriate (hi,
Southern Hemisphere here) demands of roast dinners, but I do
savour this one unequivocally festive joy: fruit mince pies. Call
them pies or tarts, but to me, tarts are open topped and pies
have a full lid or toppings … except for pecan pies, actually.
And now my argument makes no sense.
I digress. The non-negotiables of my fruit filling are always
prunes, coriander, fresh ginger and chocolate to add a vertebra
of dark and interesting flavour. I pick a pear’s juiciness over an
apple’s tartness and crispness. I plump for the plumpest dried
fruit (not the shrivelled hard nubbins of Christmas past) and
force the fruit and friends to become a rich and festive jammy
melange by slow cooking in the oven. The added bonus of
braising is that you can make it in December, so the flavour
is more sparkly fruit than dank old spice.
Preheat the oven to 140°C (285°F). Choose a small, non-reactive,
ovenproof pot. Start the fruit mince mix by peeling, coring and finely
dicing the pears into wee cubes that match the size of the sultanas.
You should end up with approximately 320–360 g (11½–12½ oz).
It’s okay if there is a little less or extra, and don’t worry if it oxidises while
you prep, as it will take on all the rich dark brown colours of the fruit during
the bake.
An alternate pear prep method is coarsely grating, but I’m not a huge fan
of the stringiness.
Add the diced pears to the pot. Dice (or snip with scissors) the
prunes to 5 mm (¼ in) pieces and add to the pot. Add the rest of
the ingredients (but hold back the chocolate) and stir to combine.
Baking this in the oven (as opposed to a stovetop simmer) allows for the
fruit to get steamy and plump.
continued …
Keeps Brilliantly! Eat the baked pies
within a week. For the suet version,
keep them chilled and eat the baked
pies within a few days.
Makes Just over 800 g (1 lb 12 oz)
fruit mince for 24 small mince pies.
Takes An hour to prep and cook the
fruit mince. An hour to chill. Just over
an hour to assemble and bake.
2 × batches Crème fraîche
shortbread crust (page 68)
or 1½ × batches Super flaky
buckwheat crust (page 76)
cooking oil spray
Fruit mince mix
500 g (1 lb 2 oz) firm pears
(approx. 3 pears)
100 g (3½ oz) pitted prunes
100 g (3½ oz) sultanas (golden
raisins)
120 g (4½ oz) raisins
50 g (1¾ oz) Candied citrus
(page 290) or Citrus + fennel
marmalade (page 282)
100 g/ml (3½ oz) brandy (or rum,
or orange juice)
60 g (2 oz) dark muscovado
(brown) sugar
60 g (2 oz) unsalted butter
10 g (¼ oz) freshly grated
fresh ginger
3 g (¹⁄₁₀ oz/heaped ¼teaspoon)
fine sea salt
3 g (¹⁄₁₀ oz/1 heaped teaspoon)
freshly ground cinnamon
2 g (1⁄16oz/1 teaspoon) freshly
ground coriander
8 grinds fresh black pepper
¼ freshly grated nutmeg
40 g (1½ oz) good dark chocolate
(70–90% cocoa)
To finish
milk to glaze
30 g (1 oz) raw caster
(superfine) sugar