The most delicious recipe for vegan and gluten-free mince pies for everyone to enjoy at Christmas time! This gluten-free, dairy-free, egg-free shortcrust pastry is short, crumbly and buttery and the vegan mincemeat filling is rich and flavourful. Once you’ve made these heavenly mince pies, you’ll never buy ready-made ones again!
Food processor (or you can make the pastry by hand)
Shallow bun tray (6cm diameter holes)
Rolling Pin & Pastry cutters
Ingredients
Gluten-Free Vegan Pastry
225gplain gluten-free flour
110gvegan butter
35mlorange juice (juice of 1 orange)
apinch ofsalt
Vegan Mincemeat (or 200g shop-bought mincemeat)
1apple, grated
55gmixed vine fruit
55gdried apricots, chopped into small cubes
55gcurrants
55gcandied peel, finely chopped
55gdark muscovado sugar
55gflavourless oil, (canola, grapeseed or coconut oil)
1orange, zest and juice (90ml of orange juice)
½lemon, zest and juice (25ml of lemon juice)
15gslivered almonds (flaked)
1teaspoonground mixed spice
⅛teaspoonground cinnamon
⅛teaspoongrated nutmeg
apinch ofsalt
Instructions
To make the mincemeat:
Place all the mincemeat ingredients into a pan, stir together and bring to the boil. Then, once it is boiling, immediately turn down the heat to low and let it simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes until the apple has softened, the sugar has melted and caramelised and the flavours have all mingled together well. Then pour into a dish and leave to cool fully before using to fill the mince pies. (If you use it while it still warm, it will melt the pastry before it cooks!).(Thermomix: 3 mins. / 120°C, scrape down the sides, then 12 mins. / 95°C)
1 apple, 55 g mixed vine fruit, 55 g dried apricots, 55 g currants, 55 g candied peel, 55 g dark muscovado sugar, 55 g flavourless oil, 1 orange, ½ lemon, 15 g slivered almonds (flaked), 1 teaspoon ground mixed spice, ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon, ⅛ teaspoon grated nutmeg, a pinch of salt
To make the pastry:
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Put the flour, vegan butter, salt and ¾ of the orange juice into a food processor and whizz briefly until it comes together. If it seems a little dry and crumbly, slowly add more of the orange juice while whizzing until the mixture comes together. (It is better for it to be too wet than too dry, as dry pastry dough is very difficult to handle and will be too crumbly to eat as well!)(Thermomix: 20 secs. / sp. 4, scrape down the sides, then 10 secs. / sp. 4)
225 g plain gluten-free flour, 110 g vegan butter, 35 ml orange juice (juice of 1 orange), a pinch of salt
Empty the contents of the food processor onto a sheet of baking paper (the size of your baking sheet) on a work surface. Bring the dough together with your hands, working as quickly as possible so that the butter doesn’t melt. Spread a little flour on the rolling pin and roll out the pastry (still on the baking paper) to 3-5mm thickness. If the pastry sticks to the rolling pin, just put another layer of baking paper on top and roll that instead.
If your pastry is getting a little warm, cover it with baking paper (if it isn’t already) and pop it in the fridge on a baking sheet for up to 10 minutes (no longer or else it will get too cold and won’t mould to the bun tray as easily).
To make the mince pies:
Cut out fluted circles that are just larger than the holes in your bun tray. (I use an 8cm cutter for 6cm holes). Carefully lift the circles off the baking paper with a palette knife or spatula and place delicately in the bun tray. - If the pastry is too cold, it will break when you try to bend it but if that happens just press it together again with your fingers. - You may need to re-roll the pastry to cut out more circles (this recipe makes 9-12 of the bun tray sized mince pies with a 6cm diameter on top - the quantity depends on the thickness of the pastry).
Add 2-3 teaspoon of vegan mincemeat into each pastry case (depending on the size of your bun tray holes, it should come to just below the top of the pastry).
Then bring together the leftover pastry bits to a ball again and re-roll out to 3mm. This time, cut out little star or Christmas tree shapes that are just a little bit smaller than the width of the top of the bun tray holes. Again, use a palette knife or spatula to carefully lift the shapes off the baking paper and place them on top of the filling. Press each one down lightly with your fingertips.
Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes at 200°C/400°F until slightly golden.
Leave to sit in the bun tin for a few minutes then use a teaspoon to carefully lift each mince pie out of their holes and transfer to a wire cooling rack. Either serve warm or leave to cool. (Can be eaten warm or cold!)
Notes
Store cold mince pies in an airtight container for up to 3 days (but they are best eaten fresh!). If you want to serve them warm, just pop them in the oven at 180°C/350°F for a few minutes.
Rolling the pastry to 5mm thickness will give 9 mince pies that are sturdy and won't fall apart when eating. Rolling to 3mm thickness will give 12 daintier mince pies but they might be a bit more crumbly.
You can easily make multiples of this recipe. This is for 9-12 mince pies only because I like making little and often and it seems like less of a big job that way!
Use shop-bought mincemeat if you prefer. The pastry will take it to new dizzying heights of yumminess!