Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist is an easy mince pie recipe made with ready-made pastry and mincemeat. Gourmet additions are almonds, brandy, and a spoonful of cottage cheese!
These quick and easy mince pies are great to knock up for unexpected visitors, and the cottage cheese makes them extra yummy!
I haven’t made mince pies for about 25 years, gasp!
My husband has never liked them or any other traditional British Christmas treats.
So anything containing dried fruit is off limits, and my daughter has followed in his footsteps 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 remember 25 years ago when my husband used to work in an agency, every Christmas, the landlady of the office premises used to come round with her homemade mince pies.
The shocking thing was that my husband liked Mrs Belcher’s mince pies because they had a twist, the addition of cottage cheese!
So I remember making my version of these mince pies all those years ago, but when there were just the 2 of us to eat them.
It wasn’t something I carried on making since on my side of the famil,y it’s only my dad who likes mince pies!
So last week, I came up with this Cheat’s Mince Pie recipe to reminisce and for my son to enjoy.
My Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist use a sheet of ready-made shortcrust pastry, half a jar of mincemeat to which you add brandy and chopped almonds (you could also add a few chopped glace cherries), and the secret twist of cottage cheese.
Well, you’re not going to believe what happened next!
I 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 pie,s 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 ever 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 knows 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 mincemeat this year and don’t have time to make pastry, just make my Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist!
No one will ever know you didn’t spend hours preparing these quick and easy mince pies from scratch!
Cheat’s Mince Pie Variations
You can tailor these easy mince pies to your taste!
- Instead of shortcrust pastry, you can use ready-made puff pastry.
- In place of almonds, use different nuts, eg, walnuts, pecan nuts, etc.
- Some finely chopped apple or glacé cherries would also make a great addition to the mincemeat.
- Not a fan of brandy? Then use rum, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can freeze raw mince pies by open-freezing in their patty tin. Once frozen, knock them out and put them in a freezer bag, removing excess air. Will keep for 3 months.
Yes, freeze in a freezer bag, expelling as much air as possible to avoid freezer burn. Will keep for 3 months in the freezer.
More Christmas Recipes
Once you’ve made my easy mince pies, check out the following delicious Christmas recipes from me and fellow food bloggers!
- Cheat’s Stollen Croissants
- Crispy Clementine Cookies
- Christmas Bundt Cake
- Christmas Pudding with Chocolate
- Christmas Soda Bread
- Christmas Coffee Truffles
- Easy Christmas Jam
- Snowball Curd
- Pear & Mincemeat Strudel
- Cherry Bakewell Mince Pies
- Christmas Lemon Curd & Amaretto Trifle
- Quick & Easy Speculoos & Mascarpone Pancake Cake
Pin Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist for later!
Leave a comment and rating below when you’ve made this recipe; I love getting your feedback! You can also share your pictures by tagging @FabFood4All over on Instagram.
Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist
Equipment
- 1 12 hole patty tin tray
- 1 Rolling Pin
- 1 Set of pastry cutters
- 1 medium sized bowl
- 1 Set of measuring spoons
- 1 Pastry brush
- 1 Dusting wand (or small sieve)
- 1 Wire cooling rack
Ingredients
- generous ½ jar mincemeat
- 20 g blanched almonds chopped
- 1 – 3 tsp brandy
- 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 200ºC.
- Place the mincemeat, chopped almonds and brandy into a bowl and mix well.
- Grease a 12 hole patty tin tray.
- 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:-)
Ren Behan
This is such a fascinating idea to add cottage cheese – I really have to try it now you’ve put it in my mind! Great recipe as ever Camilla!
Camilla
Thanks Ren, yes it’s stuck in my mind all these years:-)
Elizabeth
Such an interesting twist! I love mince pies, me, but I totally have to try out this tip.
Camilla
Thanks Elizabeth, yes do give the twist a try;-)
Jo of Jo's Kitchen
This looks delicious. I love the cottage cheese twist too. I must try it myself!
Camilla
Thanks Jo, yes do give it a try;-)
Renz
Love the idea of the cottage cheese addition. Now I want to go make a batch just so I can taste it.
Camilla
Excellent, glad to have inspired you:-)
Ceri Jones
I’d have never of guessed that twist, what a crazy but brilliant idea to offset that mincemeat sweetness. I adore mince pies, glad to see your daughter finally thinks so too!
Camilla
Fab and crazy isn’t it! When I said I was making mince pies hubby immediately moaned until I said I was making the ones like Mrs Belcher used to make which he liked-)
Angela Webster
I love this idea, I’m definitely going to give them a go.
Camilla
Great Angela, do let me know what you think!
Laura@howtocookgoodfood
I have made a recipe from the 70s which uses a dollop of cream cheese in the centre of the mince pies but not heard of cottage cheese before but think it would definitely cut through the richness of mince pies so it’s a great idea!
Camilla
It really does lift the mince pie so great for those who find the flavour a bit rich:-)
Lucy
They sound delicious Camilla, will have to try the cottage cheese twist!
Camilla
Thanks Lucy, yes do:-)
Janice
What a great story and I’ve never tried cottage cheese in mince pies, how unusual!
Camilla
Thanks Janice, yes I buried these at the back of my mind for too long LOL-)
Kavey
Lovely way of bringing together shop-bought ingredients into something homemade and rather special.
Camilla
Thanks Kavey, I do love a good cheat:-)