Seven days to Christmas...

Gluten-free
Christmas Mince Pies

This is a fantastic recipe that I have made many times.
It never fails and they really hit the spot. So, if you have a wheat or gluten allergy and are missing eating store-bought Christmas mince pies,
or if you just feel like baking up a storm, then these are for you!

Ingredients for pastry:

• 240g soya flour
  
• 120g potato flour
  
• 120g rice flour
  
• 100ml cane sugar
  
• 400g butter
  
• 50-60ml water (iced)
  
• 15-20ml lemon juice

Method for pastry:

1. This is exactly the same as making homemade shortcrust pastry. Use your fingertips to rub together the flours, sugar and butter till it resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Use a knife to "cut in" the liquids. Don't put in the full amounts all at once. Go little by little else you risk making the pastry too sticky (mind you, even then the recipe will still work, so don't stress). When the pastry starts coming together to a stage where you can form a ball out of it, it's done.
3. Cover with a cloth or clingwrap, and chill in the fridge for 30-45 minutes.
4. Note: This makes a lot of pastry, so if you prefer the filling to outweigh the amount of pastry in the finished product, then you will need to double the filling recipe amounts below.
   

Ingredients for filling:

• 50g raisins + 50g sultanas + 50g dried pears + 50g dried cranberries (it's also fine to just use a packet of Safari dried fruits cake mix)
  
• 1 apple, diced
  
• 30g almonds, nibbed
  
• 7ml mixed spice + 2ml ground cloves (I substitute cinnamon for the ground cloves)
  
• 75ml orange juice
  
• 40ml honey

Method for filling:

1. Chop the apples using a mini food processor if you have one available.

2. Mix all the ingredients for the filling together in a pan.

3. Place on a low heat and stir occasionally till all of the liquid is absorbed.

Making the mince pies:

• Depending on the consistency of the pastry, you can decide how you want your finished product to look.
  
• If the dough turned out firm, then you can try rolling out individual rounds to make traditional mince pies. Personally, I find this way too finickey and time-consuming.
  
• Therefore, I use buttered baking dishes and using my hands, I flatten a layer of pastry into the bottom of the dish. Then I spread over a layer of filling. Then I "crumble" pastry over the top.
• Bake in lower-middle part of the oven at 175 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes (the pastry looks golden with very light browning on the edges).
• The baked pastry goes crispier once out of the oven (on standing) and tastes like rich shortbread.
• Then all you need to do is slice and serve. Born-up-a-gluten-free-tree! :-)