The best mince pies are these frangipane Mince Pies with easy homemade pastry – serve warm or cold for a delicious traditional Christmas snack.
Lots of pictures and very few words today – I have my hands and mouth full of frangipane mince pies….
I was feeling a little rustic and old-school when I made these – so I actually made my own pastry! I’m usually fairly lazy when it comes to pastry – buying the pre-made and pre-rolled stuff. However this is an easy version and only takes a couple of minutes to pull together (plus a bit of chilling time in the fridge).
I did stick with the pre-made mincemeat though. I can’t believe I used to hate this stuff as a kid. I could eat it straight out of the jar now!!
The frangipane is an easy home-made recipe too. Similar to the one I use in my peach and almond tart, you don’t need a mixer – just whisk it together in a bowl before spooning on top of the mincemeat-filled pastry cases.
Serve them warm:
Maybe with a drizzle of cream?
Or eat them cold. However you eat them, they won’t last long (at least not with me around….).
Equipment:
In order to make these delicious festive Frangipane Mince Pies you will need:
- Food Processor. This is not the exact one as in the pictures, this is the newer model.
- Shallow Muffin/Cupcake Baking Tin
- Cooling rack
- Rolling Pin
- Fluted cutter
- Measuring Spoons
- Zester
- Wooden or Silicon Coated Spoons. We have just bought these and love them!
The Frangipane Mince Pies Recipe:
Frangipane Mince Pies
Ingredients
For the Pastry (or you can use ready-rolled sweet shortcrust pastry):
- 240 g plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for rolling
- 3 tbsp confectioners' (icing) sugar
- 125 g unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- finely grated zest of 1 orange
- 1 medium egg
For the Frangipane:
- 90 g unsalted butter, softened
- 100 g golden caster sugar (or use superfine)
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 90 g ground almonds (almond meal)
Also:
- 410 g jar mincemeat
- 5 tbsp flaked almonds
- 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar
Instructions
- First make the pastry - Place the flour, confectioners' sugar and butter in a food processor and pulse until fine crumbs form. Add the orange zest and egg and pulse again until it just comes together (add a couple of drops of cold water if it's still too crumbly to come together).
- Place the pastry on a piece of lightly floured baking parchment. Squash together to form it into a ball, then roll it out to 1/4 inch thick with a lightly floured rolling pin.
- Place in the fridge to chill for 30-60 minutes (cover with clingfilm if leaving in the fridge for longer - up to two days).
- Whilst the pastry is chilling, make the frangipane. Place the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat it together with a wooden spoon or hand mixer for a couple of minutes – until it goes paler. Stir in the egg and almond extract until mixed, then stir in the ground almonds. Place in the fridge until you’re ready to use it.
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F
- Once the pastry is chilled, cut out rounds using an 8cm/3" fluted cutter. Re-roll the pastry as necessary. You should get 18-20 rounds. Press each piece of pastry carefully into the hole of a 12-hole cake tin (a regular fairy-cake tin - not a muffin tin). You'll need two trays.
- Fill each pastry- hole with a tablespoon of mincemeat, then top with a tablespoon of frangipane and smooth the top slightly (it will spread as it cooks, so you don't need to be too neat). Be sure not to top with too much frangipane, as it will overflow. Sprinkle with the flaked almonds and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
- Take out of the oven and leave to cool before sifting over a little confectioners' sugar, then serve.
Recipe Notes
Nutritional Information
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Sophie says
Hi, quick question, can you just confirm how many eggs to use for the Frangipane? You’ve written 1 but then “eggs” is written next to it (and in the instructions) suggesting more than one is being used. Excited to try this recipe and just thought I’d double check before I got started. Thank you 😊x
Nicky Corbishley says
Ah thank you for letting me know Sophie. I’d recently updated the recipe to reduce the amount of frangipane a little, so I changed the quantity of eggs. I’ve updated now. It should be one large egg. Thanks again 🙂
Sophie says
Ah brill that’s really helpful thank you. Can’t wait to make these 😊x
Kay says
What has happened to mine lol 😝 it spead all over the cake tin
Chris Corbishley says
Hi Kay,
Yes that has happened to me befor too. If you put a little too much frangipane on top of the mince pies then it will spread.
Thanks
Chris & Nicky
Angela Hennessy says
Just made these with plain shop bought pastry and they were really delicious. I preferred them to regular ones as they were lighter. Very quick and easy to make. I will definitely be making more.
Josephine says
Absolutely fabulous mince pies never tasted pastry like it. I put jam in half of them as my husband doesn’t like fruit and he adored them. Can I freeze?
Jo x
Martina says
I’m going to try these this weekend! My friend gave me two jars of homemade mince meat last Christmas. I put them in the back of the cupboard and wrote a note in my diary for December 1st ‘Kate’s mincemeat in back of cupboard’! I like to make a massive batch of pastry in one go, divide it into smaller portions and freeze it, so I always have pastry handy. So last week, I made my first batch of mince pies, on Monday I made a second batch. Delicious. But this frangipane will take them to a new level!! Mulled wine and frangipane mince pies, here I come!!
Annie says
I make mini mincemeat pies every year, but frangepane is new to me and I do believe will be a game changer!! Thank you for sharing!
Seonaid says
Hi, can I freeze these uncooked and bake from frozen?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Seonaid, I would bake them first, then freeze, as I don’t think the raw frangipane would hold up well during defrosting.
Eleanor says
I can eat mince pies all year round and I just love this recipe, the almond topping is gorgeous.
Nicola says
Made these for Christmas and they were a hit. I’ve never made homeade crust before and it turned out amazing too. Will definitely be keeping this recipe for future holiday’s.
Have you ever tried making a pie from this recipe?
Hannah says
Just made these and they are wonderful, thank you.
Jakub Przedzienkowski says
May just have to try a few of these recipes. Especially Asian Short Ribs, sauce may work on Ox Tails as well.
Bea says
Looking to make these ahead of time for Christmas. Can they be frozen?
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Bea,
Yes, so long as the frangipane on top is fully cooked (it should be lightly brown in the middle), they should freeze fine in a covered container. I would advise leaving the sprinkling of confectioners’ sugar off before freezing. You can sprinkle it on after they’ve defrosted at room temperature.
Nicola says
These look amazing, can’t wait to try this out.
I’m not sure what kind of pan you used to bake these. Can you post a picture of it and measurements?
Nicola says
Was planning to make these for thanksgiving but didn’t know what to find to bake them in 🙁
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Nicola, sorry for the late reply – a shallow bun tin would be perfect. Like this: https://www.amazon.com/Master-Class-Non-Stick-Twelve-Shallow/dp/B000FU8DP4/
Hope that helps!
Saz says
OH my god !! oh my god ! oh my god ! Nicky : you made my day ! I love frangipane so much i could cry. This mixed with your recipe… i can’t wait !! i can’t wait ! Thank you so very much !
But I have no idea of what mincemeat could be ( wikipedia tells me it’s some sort of paste of dry fruit used for meat). I don’t think we find that in france. What can I replace it with to still keep it yummy ?
thanks !
Nicky Corbishley says
Hi Saz 🙂
I’m so sad you can’t get mincemeat over there – it’s one of my favourite Christmas items! I can’t think of a good substitute for it, as it has a very distinctive taste – fruity, juicy, tangy and chewy.
You could try swapping the filling out and maybe mixing some raspberry jam with some raisins and cranberries – it’s not the same, but I bet that’d still taste good.
Or if you want to make your own mincemeat, I quite like the simplicity of this recipe: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/11/quick-mincemeat-recipe/ (it just needs to be a thick, jam-like texture before putting into the pies – not runny).
If you like frangipane, you should try this one I made for CenterCutCook: http://www.centercutcook.com/raspberry-frangipane-stuffed-croissants/ So so good!!
Saz says
Thank you so much ! Yes now that I see the recipe you gave me i’m pretty certain we don’t have mincemeat in france. But I love very very much the idea of raspberry jam with raisins and cranberry. Maybe throw some orange zest in the mix ? But instant mincemeat doesn’t seem too hard to put together. Maybe i’ll try that.
YOOOOOOOSSHHHH raspberry croissant aux amandes ! That’s a very big yes ! We’re having that on the next brunch .
anywho, can’t wait to try all of those ! I’ll let you know how it went.
tahnk you again for always taking time for advises and answers. it really is lovely !
Nicky Corbishley says
ooh need to come to your house for brunch 🙂