Our former Food Director, and previously food editor to Delia Smith, Sarah has written more than 1000 recipes for the magazine. She is also author ofFamily Baking and Marmalade; A Bittersweet Cookbookamong others.
See more of Sarah Randell’s recipes
Sarah Randell
Our former Food Director, and previously food editor to Delia Smith, Sarah has written more than 1000 recipes for the magazine. She is also author ofFamily Baking and Marmalade; A Bittersweet Cookbookamong others.
See more of Sarah Randell’s recipes
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Ingredients
2 x 411g jars mincemeat
200g small seedless red grapes
For the pastry
225g plain flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting
2 tbsp icing sugar
125g cold butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
1 large egg yolk
For the shortbread stars
125g soft butter
50g caster sugar
175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
a little preserving or granulated sugar, to sprinkle
For the vanilla cream
1 x 300ml carton whipping cream, chilled
1 tbsp icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
a few drops of vanilla extract
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Step by step
Get ahead
The pastry case can be baked and the shortbread stars can be made and cut out a day ahead; keep the stars on asheet of baking paper in the fridge. The assembled tart is best baked on the dayyou want to serve it.
For the pastry, put the flour and icingsugar into a food processor (or mixer)and add the butter, whiz for a minuteor so until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Mix the egg yolk with a teaspoon of cold water and add to the processor, whiz again briefly until the pastry comes together; adding a few more drops of cold waterif necessary. Alternatively, rub the butter into the flour and icing sugar in a bowl by hand, then add the egg yolk and water and mix until the pastry comes together. Tipthe pastry onto a lightly floured surface and bring it together with your hands to forma ball, then flatten into a disc. Wrap thedisc in clingfilm and chill it for 30 minutes.
For the shortbread, use a food processor or hand mixer to mix the butter and sugar together with a pinch of salt for 3-4 minutes until pale and creamy. Or, do this by hand with a wooden spoon. Tip in the flour and mix again to combine, then put the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and bring it together with your hands. Shape the dough into a disc as you did with the pastry, wrap it in clingfilm and chill it for 20 minutes.
Lightly grease and base line a 20cm x 28cm x 2.5cm-deep fluted tin (with a removable base). Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface slightly larger than the tin, then press into the tin to line it and chill for a further 20 minutes. Don't worry if it cracksa little, you can patch it up. Preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6. Placea baking tray in the oven to heat up.
Tip
The larger granules of preserving sugar add a lovely crunch but you can use granulated sugar if you like
Line the pastry case with baking paper – scrunch it first before opening it out again and fitting it in to the pastry shell. Add baking beans (or uncooked rice) and putthe tin on the hot baking tray and into the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Towards the end of the cooking time, take the shortbread out of the fridge to soften slightly.
After the 20 minutes, lift the paper and beans out of the pastry shell and bake the pastry case for a further 10 minutes, thenset it aside to cool slightly. Meanwhile,roll out the shortbread on a lightly floured surface to about 5mm-thick and cut outstar shapes using a mixture of different-sized cutters. (Bake any extra shortbread stars alongside the tart on a separate lined baking tray to eat as biscuits.)
Mix the mincemeat with the grapes and spoon into the tart case. Arrange the shortbread stars on top, sprinkle themwith preserving or granulated sugar and bake the tart for 30-35 minutes or until the shortbread stars are lightly golden.
Whisk all the ingredients together for the vanilla cream, then chill. Serve the tartwarm or cold, dusted with icing sugar,and with the vanilla cream alongside.
Chef quote
A giant mince pie with a crunchy, starry shortbread topping. The grapes in the filling add extra juiciness. If you don't have a rectangular tin, you can also make thisin a 26cm loose-bottomed round tart tin.
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Contains alcohol. Encased in an orange zest infused all-butter pastry, our Extra Special Mince Pies have a deliciously rich mincemeat filling infused with brandy and port for a wonderful flavour. This is what we're passionate about.
Ingredients included dried fruits like raisins prunes and figs, lamb or mutton (representing the shepherds) and spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg (for the Wise Men). By late Victorian England, mince pies ceased to contain meat and had all fruit fillings (with suet).
Mince pies have been eaten as part of a traditional British Christmas since at least the 16th century. Then they were made of a spiced, sweet minced meat mixture (often lamb), but they are now commonly made with sweet mincemeat, a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, spices, and brandy.
Get ahead: Freeze uncooked pies in their tins for up to three months, wrapped in clingfilm. Bake from frozen as in step 4, allowing 5min extra. Or, pack cooked pies (without icing sugar) into freezerproof boxes. Freeze for up to three months.
To cook, heat oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. Remove the mince pies from the freezer and brush the top of each with a little milk. Bake for 20-22 mins or until the pastry is golden and crisp and the filling piping hot.
The Kirkland signature mince pies from Costco. For me and my family these are some of the best mince pies you can buy, and the festive season does not start for us until we get a huge 12 pack of these incredible little cakey pie things.
For something a little extra special, the DukesHill mince pies are our luxury pick. The classic mince pies are great, but we also love these St Clements mince pies which have extra orange and lemon peel in the mincemeat for a citrusy kick. A subtle twist that adds plenty of extra flavour.
I didn't think mainstream supermarket mince pies had any alcohol in them. My kids scoff loads of them. If there is any evaporated or not it's a no go for a strict Muslim. If you can make them yourself, Robertsons mincemeat is alcohol free (we could buy it in Saudi).
Sold in their thousands at Christmas time, but still available year-round. Stacey's mince pies are the best – perfect pastry with fruity, flavoursome mincemeat.
A mince pie (also mincemeat pie in North America, and fruit mince pie in Australia and New Zealand) is a sweet pie of English origin filled with mincemeat, being a mixture of fruit, spices and suet. The pies are traditionally served during the Christmas season in much of the English-speaking world.
What has changed dramatically is the mince pie recipe, having begun as savoury pies filled with minced meat, suet, dried fruits, spices cloves and nutmeg. However, the modern mince pie is filled with a mixture of dried fruit and spices that is called 'mincemeat' but there is no meat in the mixture at all.
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Prep time: 2 hrs 20 mins, plus chilling
