Pastry for Mince pies

My friend says she makes her pastry the day before, chills or freezes it and that makes it crisper.

just cooked the mince pies , look good but not eaten any yet , seem crisper

Easiest way to get the right amount of water is to use half the amount of fluid ounces of water as the amount of ounces of fat. E.g. 6 oz fat, 12 oz flour, 3 fluid oz very cold water. Seems to work perfectly.

Just one more tip - from someone whose pastry has been heavy as lead until recently:
Only a few drops of liquid! Whatever the other ingredients. I used to add too much.

My grandma used to tell a story about a neighbour whose mince pies were admired by all. Everyone in the WI was after her recipe, but she would never give it out. My gran called round one day just before Christmas and the neighbour said "Come through, I'm just making mince pies". Delighted that she might get a bit of insider information, my gran followed her into the kitchen - and stood there watching this woman pick up each pastry lid, lick her finger and run it around the rim before putting them on the mince pies!

Thanks Jane

mumofmadboys There was another thread about this a couple of weeks ago and hildajennij posted a link to this recipe
www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mymincepies_71055

I tried it out yesterday and there aren't many left

I saw a recipe with ground almonds added to the pastry.Has anyone done that before please?

My mother used to use a mix of plain and SR flour for pastry, I think about 2/3 plain to 1/3 SR and her pastry was always light and delicious, a mix of lard and butter or block margarine.
No sugar and mixed with water - just ordinary shortcrust pastry but always melt in the mouth.

I wish mine would turn out the same [sigh]

I'm another who has always used SR flour and icing sugar for minced pies. Always a good light result and not too sweet.

Thanks ginny I might give it a try.

I think it is softer but not soggy or too sweet. I always think mincemeat is very sweet anyway and doesn't need more sugar around it.

Ok but how is it different? crisper, softer?

I think it is just personal tadte really. I prefer the texture.

I've read you can use SR flour ginny what difference is there to making with Pl flour?

I always use shortcrust pastry and I make it with SR flour. Sprinkle sugar on top before serving. Never had any complaints and am often asked to make pies for 'dos'.

I prefer them made with unsweetened pastry, just sprinkle a bit on the top.
I'm going to make some puff pastry ones, well the pastry is in the freezer and the mince is in the cupboard... lol.

Funny you should say that aggie I used icing sugar for the first time when I made the first batch of pies last week I couldn't tell any difference though.
Thanks for the input I won't worry about it and I can always make some cheese straws too as its not sweetened.

It will be fine , I sometimes forget , no one has noticed . I used icing sugar this year , will be interested to see if it tastes any different