Light and Fruity Mince Pies

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Ingredients

These light and fruity mince pies are easy to make and work out at less than 1g fat each. You can even make the mincemeat in advance and store it in the fridge.

This mix makes approx 24 mince pies

  • 450g of mixed dried fruit (sultanas, currents, raisins, cranberries, or use a ready made mix for an easy life)
  • 50g of glacé cherries, washed and quartered
  • 100 ml flavoured black or green tea of your choice ( Christmas blends are available, or sweet blends such as salted caramel )
  • Juice and zest of 1 orange or 2 clementines
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • A few drops of Rum or Brandy Essence to taste ( optional)
  • 100g brown sugar, treacle or honey ( you can replace with a sugar substitute such as Spenda, as per their directions approx 4tbsp)
  • 1 Bramley apple, washed, cored and finely chopped (no need to peel)
  • 2 tsp of Mixed Spice
  • ¼ tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of ground nutmeg
  • For 12 mince pies you need 3 sheets of filo pastry
light-and-fruity-pie

Method

Please don’t be put off by the long list of ingredients or directions – it’s actually a very straightforward recipe. You can even make the mincemeat in advance and store it in the fridge until you want to fill the pies. If you find lining small muffin tins with pastry too fiddly, try making up one large mince pie with the filo dough.

  • 1 Place all the ingredients into a pan, bring to the boil stirring and then cover and simmer gently for 10 to 15 minutes to soften the apple.
  • 2 Pour the mixture into a bowl and cool. Cover and keep in the fridge overnight, so the fruit can absorb all the flavours. You can taste and adjust the spices at this point if you wish.
  • 3 To make 12 pastry cases, lay out the three sheets of filo pastry on a flat surface. Cut the stack of sheets into 12 squares using kitchen scissors ( this should give you 36 individual squares when separated out).
  • 4 Prepare 12 muffin tins by brushing over with 1 spray of oil in each hole. Spray each of the squares of the top layer of filo with oil spray (1 spray per square is enough), and then peel off each individual square of pastry and press, oily side down, into the muffin tins. Repeat with the further two layers of pastry, but stacking the squares at angles to each other so you are forming a star shape shape.
  • 5 Fill the pastry cases with a heaped tsp of the mincemeat and bake at 180C for 8 to 10 minutes or until the mince pies are golden. They do reheat in the oven well but don’t over heat as they burn easily.
  • 6 Dust the tops likely with icing sugar or sugar alternative just before serving.
  • 7 Spare mincemeat can be jared and kept in the fridge for 3 to 4 days, or store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Cream alternative to accompany your mince pies - Why not try fat free/low fat quark sweetened with icing sugar, or sugar substitute to your taste adding a few drops of your favourite flavouring essence. As a general guide, for each 50g of quark use 25g Splenda.

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