Home-made mince pies!

Mince-pies!

Pastry:  500g plain flour, 250g margerine, 200g sugar, lemon zest,few drops of vanilla essence, 1 egg and some water to bind.  

Work the margerine into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs in texture.  Add the sugar, vanilla essence and lemon zest.  Add the egg and the water and beat till it forms into a ball.  Rest for one hour in the fridge.  Best done with  home-made mince meat (recipe in the blog).  Cut small rounds of pastry for the base, and line greased patty tins, fill with some mince meat and top with the following:  star-shaped cut pastry, flaked almonds, glace cherries.  Bake in a moderate oven (150 degrees electric fan oven) for about an hour.  It is important to cook in a slow oven for longer to ensure that they have a nice texture andthus they will keep well for about two weeks in a tin.