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.