Festive Frangipane Mince Pies Recipe

Plate stacked with Frangipane Mince Pies.

5 from 1 vote

Festive Frangipane Mince Pies Recipe

A brilliant twist on the classic mince pies. Flaky pastry filled with a fruity filling topped with a nutty fragrant frangipane cream ticks all the boxes for the festive, Holiday season.

Prep Time30

Cook Time25

Pastry chill time1

Total Time1 55

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings: mince pies

Calories: 356kcal

Author: Emma Duckworth

Equipment

Ingredients

All Butter Pastry

220 g plain flour (all-purpose)
¼ teaspoon fine salt
115 g unsalted butter
45-60 ml ice cold water

Fruit Filling

350 g mincemeat (fruit filling)

Almond Cream (Frangipane) Topping

1 zest of orange
100 g granulated sugar
115 g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
100g ground almonds (almond meal)
20 g plain flour (all-purpose)
½ teaspoon fine salt
30 g flaked almonds
1 tablespoon powdered icing sugar

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Make the Pastry

Rub the butter into the flour. Into a large mixing bowl, add the flour and salt and quickly mix together. Add cubed butter and toss until coated. Using your fingers, rub the butter into the flour until the butter is the size of large peas.
Add in water and bring the dough together. Add in the water a little at a time and use your fingers tips to gently toss the mixture together until the dough starts to hold when pressed.
Form the dough and refrigerate. Gently squeeze the dough in the bowl and form it into a disc. Wrap well in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour minimum.

Fill the Cupcake Pans

Roll out dough. Remove the dough from the fridge and leave it at room temperature for 10 to 15 minutes. Rolling out dough that is too cold will cause it to crack. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to the thickness of a coin (¼ inch). Using a 9 cm (3.5 inch) diameter cookie cutter, stamp out as many rounds as you can.
Add dough to cupcake tray and fill. Pre-heat the oven to 180C (350F).
Flour the cupcake tray lightly and place a dough cutout into each hole, pressing it against the base and sides until flush. If using a cupcake pan, the dough won't reach the top of the mould.
Spoon two tablespoons of the mince meat fruit filling into the bottom of each pastry case.

Make the Frangipane, Finish off the Pies and Bake

Infuse the sugar with orange then cream with the butter. Rub the orange zest into the sugar to release the oils and flavour the sugar (Image 11).
Then add the butter and using electric hand-held beaters (or stand mixer), cream the butter and orange sugar together until pale and creamy.
Add eggs and then dry ingredients. Whisk the eggs lightly and then add them to the butter mix. Beat for a minute or so, it may look a little curdled, but not to worry.
Add in the ground almonds, flour and salt and beat until fully combined, thick and creamy.
Top the fruit filling. Fill a zip-lock/sandwich bag (or small piping bag), snip a large hole and pipe the frangipane filling over the mince meat. Or you can easily spoon a couple of table spoons over the top.
Sprinkle the flaked almonds over each of the almond cream covered pies.
Bake. Cover the whole pan with an aluminium foil tent. Bake mince pies for 15 minutes before removing the foil, and continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes until the pastry and almond cream are golden.
Remove and cool in the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. Dust with powdered icing sugar. Serve warm or cold plain or with custard, cream or ice cream.

Notes

Step-by-Step Photos: My blog post includes helpful step-by-step photos to help guide you through making this recipe.

To store: Keep homemade Frangipane Mince Pies in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to one week.

To freeze: The baked pies do freeze exceptionally well. Once cooled, place them in a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. Re-crisp the pastry by baking the pies for 10 minutes in a 180C (350F) oven.

TIP 1: Use cold butter for the dough.

TIP 2: Don't over work the dough. Over worked dough will lead to tough, not very flakey pastry.

TIP 3: Jazz up your mince pie fruit filling. This is your opportunity to get creative with flavours.

TIP 4: Keep going if the frangipane looks curdled after the eggs are added. As soon as you add in the ground almonds and flour, the mixture will come together.

TIP 5: Tent the cupcake pan when baking.

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