Filo Mince Pies With Almond Streusel
These filo mince pies are incredibly flaky & topped with a nutty almond streusel. A lighter version of the Christmas classic!
Servings: 12 Mince Pies
Equipment
- Small Mixing Bowl
- 12 Hole Muffin Tray
- Pastry Brush
- Wire Cooling Rack
- Small Palette Knife
Ingredients
Almond Streusel
- 25 g Plain Flour
- 20 g Demerara Sugar
- 15 g Ground Almonds
- A Pinch Of Sea Salt
- 20 g Unsalted Butter Chilled
- 10 g Flaked Almonds
Mince Pies
- 6 Sheets Filo Pastry See Notes
- 75 g Unsalted Butter
- 400 g Mincemeat See Notes
- 2 tsp Icing Sugar To Dust
Instructions
Almond Streusel
- Place the flour, sugar, ground almonds & salt into a small mixing bowl then mix together.
- Chop the butter into cubes then add into the flour.
- Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs then squeeze the mix together to form larger clumps.If the pieces are too big, break them up with your fingers.
- Next, break the flaked almonds into slightly pieces, using your fingertips then stir through the streusel.
- Chill the streusel in the fridge until ready to use.
Mince Pies
- Preheat an oven to 180°c/160°c fan (356°f/320°f).
- Melt the butter (either in a microwave or in a pan on the stove) then transfer to a bowl & leave to cool slightly.
- Brush a 12 hole muffin tray with melted butter then set aside.
- Next, take a sheet of the filo pastry & cut it into 8 evenly sized squares.The squares of pastry should be roughly 11 cm wide. If you are using smaller sheets of filo, cut them into 4 squares. If they're larger sheets, cut them into 6 or 8.I like to use a pizza cutter to cut the filo but a sharp knife will work as well!
- Take 4 of the filo squares & set the others aside.Make sure to keep any unused filo pastry covered with a damp tea towel, to keep it from drying out.
- Lay a filo square onto your worksurface then brush the top with melted butter. Take another pastry square & lay on top, at a slight angle then brush with butter.See the post above for a visual guide...
- Lay another square on top, at an angle then brush with butter. Lay the final square of filo on top, at an angle but don't brush with butter.
- Press the stack of filo into one of the muffin tray holes then fill two teaspoons of mincemeat (the mincemeat should be just under the top of the tin).
- Add a light sprinkle of the cold streusel to the top of the mincemeat then fold over the overhanging filo pastry so that it's level with the muffin tray hole.
- Brush the top of the filo with melted butter then repeat the assembly process with the remaining pastry & mincemeat.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is crisp & the streusel is golden brown. If the pastry looks like its' getting too brown, cover the tray loosely with foil.
- Once cooked, let the mince pies cool in the tin for a couple of minutes then use a small palette knife to transfer them to a cooling rack. Leave to cool completely then dust with icing sugar & serve.
Notes
1. Cooking In An Aga - Bake the mince pies in the baking oven on the second from bottom set of runners. If the pastry is browning too quickly, move the tray of pies down a set of runners.
2. Filo Pastry - Each square of pastry should be roughly 11cm wide. Depending on the brand of filo used, you might need to cut each sheet into 4, 6 or 8 squares. This means that you might need a couple of extra sheets of pastry than what is stated in the recipe.
Don't worry too much if the squares of filo are a little bigger or smaller than 11cm. I used filo from Marks & Spencer & I cut each sheet into 8.
3. Mincemeat - For this recipe, you can use shop bought mincemeat or make your own. My homemade mincemeat recipe can be found here.
5. Storage - Once cool, store the mince pies in an airtight container. They are best eaten within 3 days of being made.