Today I bring you Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist! I haven’t made mince pies for about 25 years, gasp! You see hubby has never really liked them or any of the other traditional British Christmas treats containing dried fruit and my daughter has followed in his foot steps and won’t even eat a scone with raisins in it. However my son and I love mince pies, Christmas cake etc so I decided to make some. I remembered back to 25 years ago when my hubby used to work in an agency and every Christmas the landlady of the office premises used to come round with her home-made mince pies. But the shocking thing was that hubby actually liked Mrs Belcher’s mince pies because they had a twist to them, the addition of cottage cheese!
So I seem to remember making my own version all those years ago but when there were just the 2 of us to eat them it wasn’t something I carried on making and on my side of the family it’s only my dad who likes mince pies! So on Saturday I decided to put together a really quick and easy but delicious mince pie recipe. My Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist use shop bought shortcrust pastry sheets, shop bought mincemeat to which you add your own brandy and chopped almonds (you could also add a few chopped glace cherries) and the twist of the cottage cheese.
Well you’re not going to believe what happened next! I kind of thought my hubby would eat these mince pies as he’d liked them all those years ago but the shocking thing was that my daughter asked to have one, liked it and had more over the weekend!! She said it was the best mince pie she’d ever had. I wasn’t that impressed with this statement as I couldn’t remember her ever having had one but she said she’d tried a few LOL!
My son came home from work (Saturday job) and seeing the mince pies grabbed one before he’d even taken his coat off. He was a bit shocked that I’d made them, poor lad, I’ve deprived him all these years as he’s only every had shop bought ones! He loved my mince pies too.
I asked hubby what it is about these Cheats Mince Pies that he likes when he won’t usually eat one and he said that the cottage cheese takes away the intensity of the mincemeat flavour. It does add a lovely creamy element to the mince pie and now I know the whole family will eat them I’ll be baking these every year. I also like the extra crunch of the chopped almonds and the brandy flavour. Goodness know why it took me this long to remember Mrs Belcher’s trick but better late than never eh!
So don’t stress if you haven’t made your own mincemeat this year and don’t have time to make pastry, simply make my Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist – no-one will ever know you didn’t spend hours preparing them from scratch! Do you have any quick Christmas baking or dessert making tips or tricks that you’d like to share with my readers? Do let me know in the comments below! I asked some fellow bloggers for their Christmas recipes that use “cheats” and here are a few:
- Cheat’s Stollen Croissants – Fab Food 4 All
- Pear & Mincemeat Strudel – Tinned Tomatoes
- Cherry Bakewell Mince Pies – Emily’s Recipes & Reviews
- Christmas Trifle – How to Cook Good Food
- Christmas Lemon Curd & Amaretto Trifle – Casa Costello
- Quick & Easy Speculoos & Marscapone Pancake Cake – Kavey Eats
Why not pin for later?
Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist
Ingredients
- generous ½ jar mincemeat
- 20 g blanched almonds chopped
- 1 - 3 tsp brandy
- 1 320 g pack short crust pasty sheet rested at room temperature for 15 minutes
- 6 tsp cottage cheese
- milk for glazing
- icing sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 200º.
- Place the mincemeat, chopped almonds and brandy into a bowl and mix well.
- Grease a 12 hole patty tin.
- Unroll the pastry sheet and give it a quick roll with a rolling pin to stretch slightly.
- Use a 7.5 cm fluted pastry cutter to cut out 12 circles (you’ll need to gather up the pastry and re-roll with a dusting of flour) and fill the patty tin with the pastry circles.
- Fill each pastry circle with mincemeat and top with ½ tsp of cottage cheese.
- Roll out the rest of the pastry and using a 6 cm fluted cutter cut out 12 circles, brush edges with water and press onto the bases.
- Cut a hole with a table knife into the top of each pie to allow steam to escape (I would give it a slight twist too as the hole seems to seal up).
- Brush the tops with milk and bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes.
- Transfer mince pies to a cooling rack.
- Serve warm or cold dusted with icing sugar.
Janice Pattie
This is a great idea for when you don’t have time. Much nicer than buying mince pies and I’m intrigued by your secret twist, must try it!
Camilla
Thank you Janice, yes the secret twist works so well:-)
Dianne Simpson
Love , cheat shortcuts and knock offs lol, I actually use ricotta cheese in mine and course sugar , but I think powdered sugar looks very pretty for Christmas .
Camilla
Fab Dianne I bet ricotta cheese works really well too:-)
Maria Wendy Yaksic Yañez
Querida Hether; soy fanática de Pinterest y es dónde te he encontrado con ésta (para mí) extraña receta. En mi vida he comido muchos pasteles de carne, pero jamás dulce. Pero estoy dispuesta a hacerlo y degustarlo, me extraña tanto que no lleve sal, ni condimentos pero Sí azúcar glass. Francamente es muy extraño. Hether, que has usado carne de ternera, cerdo ó cordero? . Espero tu respuesta con mucha curiosidad y ansia por probarlo. Muchas gracias de antemano. Saludos desde Guadalajara, España .
P. D. Me he suscrito a newletter
Camilla
Hi Maria, Camilla here, not sure who Hether is:-) I just put your text into Google translate so now understand your question. There is a language barrier here as this is not a meat pie! Mincemeat can refer to meat but also to a mixture of dried fruits, apple, suet and spices like cinnamon & cloves. British people use this type of mincemeat in Mince Pies at Christmas, it can be bought in a jar or made at home:-) Thank you for subscribing to my newsletter:-)
Richard Eldred Hawes
Their is nothing like a lovely homemade mince pie
Camilla
Very true Richard:-)
Helen Moulden
Great recipe. I love mince pies all year around!
Camilla
Thanks;-)
Amy Fidler
Love this cheat xx great for this xmas x
Camilla
Thank you Amy:-)
William Gould
I actually like the intense flavour of mince pies and wouldn’t want to take away from that. It does look like an interesting addition though, especially if the pies are still warm!!
Camilla
It’s a bit like having cream on your Christmas Pudding:-)
Ryan
Look delish!
Camilla
Thanks Ryan:-)
Heather Haigh
These sound fabulous. I love the addition of the cheese. I was always a fan of cheese with Christmas cake (don’t know if that’s a Northern thing) so I just know this will work.
Camilla
Thanks Heather, not heard of cheese and Christmas cake:-)
Carrie Talbot-Ashby
These look amazing! I wish I could cook like this lol. Might have to get the husband to try the recipe out! Nicely done! xxx
Camilla
There really is zero skill required here as the pastry is bought:-)