Day 358 of 365 - Christmas Eve

What do you do on Christmas Eve afternoon once all the shopping is done and everyone is home? Make mince pies of course!!
My favourite are Streusel Topped Mince Pies which I first found in a supermarket magazine the year Samuel was born and have been making ever since.


Of course while I was waiting for them to cook the boys decided to find an old piece of pipe, a left over ball of dough and play Splat the Pastry on the kitchen cupboards!! What a laugh that was trying to see who could get nearest the cupboard door handle!!

Notice the haircut? Not done by me though

Well why not it is Christmas...............

Streusel Topped Mince Pies


Ingredients:

1 jar of mincemeat
Icing sugar for dusting

For the pastry:

350g plain flour, plus extra to dust
1 tbsp icing sugar
½ tsp salt
90g chilled butter, cut into pieces
90g chilled lard or white vegetable shortening, cut into pieces
Butter for greasing

For the streusel topping:

50g plain flour
30g butter, at room temperature
25g demerara sugar
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
25g lightly toasted hazelnuts, chopped

Method
1. For the pastry, sift the flour, icing sugar and salt into a mixing bowl, add the butter and lard/vegetable shortening, then work it together until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in 3-4 tbsp cold water with a round-bladed knife until the mixture comes together. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth. Divide into 2 equal pieces.
2. Roll each piece of pastry out on a lightly floured surface and cut out 24 x 7cm rounds using a fluted cutter, re-kneading and rolling the trimmings. Lightly grease 2 x 12-hole patty tins with butter and line with the pastry discs. Spoon 1 tbsp mincemeat into each case. Chill for 20 minutes.
3. For the streusel topping, sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and the cinnamon and work it a little more between your fingers until the mixture forms little nuggets. Stir in the hazelnuts.
4. Preheat the oven to 190°C/fan 170°C/gas 5. Spoon 1 heaped tsp streusel mix over each pie, then bake for 25 minutes until golden. Carefully remove to a rack. Leave for 3-4 minutes, dust with icing sugar and serve warm or cold.