Christmas mince pie

For the shortcrust pastry:
• 120 g flour
• ½ t salt
• 2 T icing sugar
• 150 g butter, softened
• 1 T water
• 1 free-range egg yolk, beaten
For the fruit mince:
• 220 g dried Turkish figs
• 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and diced
• 500 g prunes, roughly chopped
• 100 g pine nuts
• 500 g seedless raisins
• 250 g dried cranberries
• ½ t white pepper
• ½ t nutmeg
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 t ground cardamom
• 3 oranges, zested and juiced
• 1 lemon, zested
• 100 g brown treacle sugar
• ¼ cup brandy

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. To make the pastry, sift the flour, salt and icing sugar into a bowl. Work in the butter using your fingertips until the mixture is the consistency of fine breadcrumbs.
2. Stir the water into the egg yolk, then mix it into the flour-and-butter mixture.
3. Work the mixture into a stiff dough, adding water if necessary. Wrap the dough in clingwrap and chill for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out the pastry onto a floured surface and cut to the size of your baking tray. Cut out pastry stars for the top from the pastry off-cuts.
5. Place on a greased baking tray and prick all over using a fork. Set aside.
6. To make the fruit mince, place all the ingredients into a large saucepan and cook over a medium heat for 10 minutes, or until most of the liquid has reduced and the mince is sticky.
7. Spoon generously over the pastry sheet and top with the pastry stars. Bake for 30–40 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cook's note: Make your Christmas baking much easier by filling a pastry-lined tray with fruit mince and adding star-shaped pastry cut-outs for the top. Then just cut into brownie-style squares and serve.

Discover more festive recipes here.