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You are here: Home / Christmas / Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist – amaze your friends!

Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist – amaze your friends!

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Cheat's Mince Pies with a Secret Twist - Fab Food 4 All

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!

Cheat's Mince Pies with a Secret Twist - Fab Food 4 All

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.

Cheat's Mince Pies with a Secret Twist - Fab Food 4 All

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.

Cheat's Mince Pies with a Secret Twist - Fab Food 4 All

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!

Mor Christmas recipes that use “cheats”

  • Cheat’s Stollen Croissants – Fab Food 4 All
  • Pear & Mincemeat Strudel – Tinned Tomatoes 
  • Cherry Bakewell Mince Pies – Emily’s Recipes & Reviews
  • Christmas Lemon Curd & Amaretto Trifle – Casa Costello
  • Quick & Easy Speculoos & Marscapone Pancake Cake – Kavey Eats

Do leave a comment and rating below! You can also share a photo with me by tagging @FabFood4All on Instagram.

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Cheat's Mince Pies with a Secret Twist - Fab Food 4 All

Cheat's Mince Pies with a Secret Twist - Fab Food 4 All
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Cheat’s Mince Pies with a Secret Twist

Cheat's Mince Pies with a Secret Twist make the most of shop bought pastry and mincemeat with the gourmet addition of almonds, brandy and a dollop of cottage cheese! Just delicious!
Course Snack
Cuisine British
Keyword Christmas, mincemeat, shortcrust pastry
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 12
Author Camilla Hawkins

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.
  • 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.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Janice Pattie

    31/10/2019 at 3:46 pm

    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!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      31/10/2019 at 7:13 pm

      Thank you Janice, yes the secret twist works so well:-)

      Reply
  2. Dianne Simpson

    14/12/2018 at 12:10 pm

    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 .

    Reply
    • Camilla

      14/12/2018 at 2:04 pm

      Fab Dianne I bet ricotta cheese works really well too:-)

      Reply
  3. Maria Wendy Yaksic Yañez

    02/11/2018 at 10:21 pm

    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

    Reply
    • Camilla

      02/11/2018 at 10:52 pm

      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:-)

      Reply
  4. Richard Eldred Hawes

    17/05/2017 at 10:13 pm

    Their is nothing like a lovely homemade mince pie

    Reply
    • Camilla

      18/05/2017 at 12:21 am

      Very true Richard:-)

      Reply
  5. Helen Moulden

    14/01/2017 at 10:31 pm

    Great recipe. I love mince pies all year around!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      15/01/2017 at 12:00 am

      Thanks;-)

      Reply
  6. Amy Fidler

    14/01/2017 at 12:59 pm

    Love this cheat xx great for this xmas x

    Reply
    • Camilla

      14/01/2017 at 4:03 pm

      Thank you Amy:-)

      Reply
  7. William Gould

    02/01/2017 at 9:18 am

    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!!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      02/01/2017 at 7:50 pm

      It’s a bit like having cream on your Christmas Pudding:-)

      Reply
  8. Ryan

    23/12/2016 at 4:11 pm

    Look delish!

    Reply
    • Camilla

      23/12/2016 at 5:54 pm

      Thanks Ryan:-)

      Reply
  9. Heather Haigh

    23/12/2016 at 6:25 am

    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.

    Reply
    • Camilla

      23/12/2016 at 2:55 pm

      Thanks Heather, not heard of cheese and Christmas cake:-)

      Reply
  10. Carrie Talbot-Ashby

    22/12/2016 at 6:25 am

    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

    Reply
    • Camilla

      22/12/2016 at 2:30 pm

      There really is zero skill required here as the pastry is bought:-)

      Reply
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