Christmas mince pies

For a few years now I've been meaning to make some fruit mince pies for Christmas day :) So this year I have.

Recipe for the fruit mince part:

Ingredients

1/4 cup currants

1/3 cup sultanas

2 tbsp mixed peel

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1 apple, peeled and grated

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp grated orange rind

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1 cup fresh cherries, pitted and quartered

1/2 cup red seedless grapes, quartered

1 overflowing tbsp scotch whiskey or brandy

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. You should use this pretty much as soon as possible because it's fresh fruit, and there isn't much alcohol in it to preserve :)

This is a terrible picture.

I made a basic sweet shortcrust pastry with wholemeal flour and used my mini muffin pan as a mould. Put about a teaspoon of fruit mince into each hole and put more pastry on top as a lid. Press around the edge with a fork. I stuck a hole in each pie with a skewer and then sprinkled raw castor sugar on the tops. Bake for 20-30 minutes at 200 degrees C.

The fruit mixture was enough for 10 full size muffin pan sized pies, and 14 mini muffins, or about 30 mini muffin pan sized pies.

And they are delicious.