To make the sweet pastry, rub the flour, butter, sugar and egg together with a splash of cold water until it just comes together as a dough. The early mince pie was also known as a mutton pie or a Christmas pie and was filled with meat, such as lamb, beef and game, rather than the dried fruit mix they are today.

The rounded cavities are hard to find in the United States, but so essential for nice round buns and rolls. Sprinkling almonds on the top with either apricot jam or a dusting of icing sugar makes for a very good looking mince pie. She says they are a great alternative pies for those people who don't really like traditional mince pies.Once you have your ball of dough, rub it around the sides and bottom of the bowl to pick up any loose bits that remain, so you end up with a clean bowl. Chocolate - If you really want to experiment then try stirring in a little grated chocolate or melting it into the mincemeat.

I usually use tartlet tins for mince pies, but I shall try them in this one on the recommendation of the other reviewers. I made mince pies - from scratch - for the first time, after being inspired by the Great British Bake Off. I have to add, though, that I took away a star because the tin arrived with dents in the lovely rounded bottoms, luckily small ones, but dents nonetheless. Press the pastry into the muffin cups and fill each one with a good helping of the mincemeat mixture, so that it reaches three-quarters of the way up the side of the pastry-lined cup.Bake at 180C/fan oven 170C/gas mark 4 for 30-40 minutes, cool slightly and serve with a dusting of icing sugar, or with rum butter and vanilla ice cream. But even though they have been on the festive menu for years (traceable back to the 13th century), many people actually don’t know how to make them. Through our rigorous oven lab tests we found that some models don’t evenly spread heat as you’d hope, causing uneven browning.