Yesterday, I posted up a recipe for a Vegan Mincemeat that I had just fallen in love with. You can imagine how desperately I wanted to make Vegan Mince Pies then – and I did!

I’m going to preface this recipe by saying that my friend James said they might be the best mince pies he’s ever had. And this is an actual British person, so we can safely assume that he’s consume upwards of a thousand mince pies over his 26 Christmases so far. I know. It’s impressive.

Once you’ve got the Mincemeat down, or bought your own (cheater…I’m kidding), mince pies are actually very easy to make, which is why your Mum always ropes you into helping when you’re a kid. The funnest part is deciding what shape you’re going to put on top – a star, or a holly leaf, or are you going to go the whole hog and cover it completely? It’s up to you. Personally, I like the stars; it’s how my Mum always makes them.

Christmas is officially here!

You’ll need:
(Makes 10 large pies, or 15-20 small ones)
1 cup cold vegan margarine, diced
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup ground almonds
2 tbsp icing sugar
pinch of salt
a splash of water
vegan mincemeat

Method:
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Sift the flour, salt and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl, then cut the margarine into it
Rub the margarine into the flour and salt until it looks like breadcrumbs
Add in the ground almonds and a tiny bit of water until the mixture turns into a pliable dough
Grease your cupcake / muffin tin or whatever you’re going to be using
Split the dough into one section of one third, and one section of two thirds
Take the bigger section, roll the dough out thinly, and cut out circles to match the size of your cupcake / muffin tin
Push these circles into each hole, letting some come up the sides to create a cup shape
Fill each cup with 2 teaspoons of vegan mincemeat
Roll out the remaining section of dough thinly, and cut out 6-pronged stars like the ones in the picture. Alternatively, you can simply cut out more circles and close these tops over the sides of the cups, to create a whole mini pie
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pies are browning
Allow to cool and enjoy!

These are great warmed up with some ice cream or coconut cream, but, being something of a purist, I think that you either have these with custard or you have them cold with a great cup of tea. The almond in the crust makes this more than just your average mince pie. Trust me.