General Chat

For all you supercooks and not-so super cooks,this tip was given at our W.I.meeting this afternoon. put your bottom-half of the pie in the tin and then put a paper cake case on top with a few dried peas or baking beans in and bake as usual,remove papercase when cooked ,---cut out and bake tops separate,---while they are baking put your mincemeat into a microwavable jug and nuke for a minute till suet melts,put into baked lower halves and place baked tops on ---hey presto- impressive mince pies.thought this was a good idea coz if your like me i either get too much or not enough filling in---this way its foolproof. for those without a microwave put the filling in a saucepan and heat it up. Happy cooking wendy

thats a good idea wendy hazelx

Nice one Wendy, will try that. Thanks

You lot are so organised; Ive never baked a mince pie in my life...

Well Rebekah,do it the easy way by some ready made shortcrust pastry and follow the tip its easy then,for an added tip sprinkle some icing sugar over the pies when they have cooled down,use a fine mesh teastrainer,makes less mess and waste. best wishes wendy

well theresa i suppose you could moisten the tops before putting them on base with a little water,--or make top a little bit smaller so it sits inside,thats what i always do best wishes wendy

Hi I do that with the bottems,then add the filling and cut out a star to use as the top and bake You can use rice instead of Peas or baking beans. I add a tiny drop of brandy to the mincemeat so you don't need to buy the expensive brand. I also rolling out the pastry in icing sugar it sweetens up the pastry and makes it crispy. Kate