Mince Tart Hand Pies with Sophie Hansen

Mince tarts are the ultimate harbinger of Christmas. They arrive in the shops too early, but I buy them anyway. I love all that sweet crumbly pastry and boozy fruit inside. I love them when they’re so hot they’ll probably burn the top of your mouth, but that’s ok because you can follow them with a lovely cool cherry, then a sip of coffee. And I love making and giving them as presents.

But I don’t love all that fiddling around with tart shells and mini muffin tins etc when it comes to making the things. Until now, that is. Because…Enter the mince tart-hand pies!

Just cut out two rounds of sweet pastry, then spoon in your brandy-soaked dried fruit, press down the lid and seal the edges with the tines of a fork. So easy and just as delicious as the fiddly version. 

I hope you enjoy this recipe from the summer pages of my book Around the Kitchen Table.
Sophie Hansen x

Prep time 25 mins (plus chilling time for the pastry)

Cook time 20 mins

Makes about 16

Sweet Sour cream pastry

• 2 cups (300 g) plain (all-purpose) flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1/4 cup (55g) caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2/3 cup (160 g) sour cream 
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 1 cup (250 g) chilled unsalted butter, cut into cube

Egg wash 

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp cream
• 1/4 cup caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 cups fruit mince

Method

For the pastry, combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl or straight onto your work surface and put the sour cream, flour, sugar, salt and butter in your food processor and blitz for a few seconds or until just combined. Turn the pastry onto a work surface and gently bring it together into a disc. Divide into two discs, wrap each and pop in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.  

Roll out one of the discs of pastry on a lightly floured surface. Cut into rounds using a 5cm cookie cutter or thereabouts, (or even a drinking glass). Place a heaped tablespoon of the fruit mince on the middle of one of these rounds. Press another on top and seal the edges with the tines of a fork, pressing gently all the way around. Place on a baking tray and repeat with remaining pastry and fruit mince. 

Place prepared hand pies in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up to two days. You can also freeze at this point and cook straight from frozen. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 200C. Whisk together the egg and cream in one bowl and then cinnamon sugar in another by whisking together the sugar and ground cinnamon. 

Using a pastry brush or your fingers at a pinch, brush each pie with the egg wash, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve warm with a dollop of cream or ice cream.

Variation - of course, not everyone loves fruit mince, so if you have these types at home, you might prefer to make jam pies, following the instructions above but instead of mince, a dollop of jam in the middle.