(A Cheat's) Mince Pies

Father Christmas is on his way so what better way to greet him than with some warm, melt-in-the-mouth mince pies. Although I'm usually all for good honest, home-made food (quite a Jamie Oliver - I know :P) I just had to cheat with this one. For me, mince pies are and have always been the epitome of Christmas, if we exclude the GORGEOUS stuffed salmon parcels my parents make on Christmas day. I'm not quite sure why it is that I idolize these scrumptious pastries so much but I do think that the key to a good mince pie lies within the juiciness of the mincemeat and that perfect pastry that dissolves like candyfloss on the tongue.

A Cheat's Mince Pies
Ingredients:
Butter (for greasing)
1 Pack of shortcrust pastry (pre-cut into squares)
1 Jar of good quality mincemeat (e.g. Robertsons)

Method:
Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C

1. Liberally, grease the inside of a yorkshire pudding tin with butter
2. Lay each individual sheet of shortcrust pastry out on a greased surface
3. Cut out a circle in the middle of the pastry with a circle biscuit cutter and place in one of the yorkshire pudding holes
4. DO NOT DISCARD THE EXCESS PASTRY, leave it to one side 
5. Continue steps 3 and 4 until you have cut 12 circles
6. Place in the oven for 5 minutes 
7. Meanwhile, on a greased surface, roll the excess pastry into a ball
8. Roll out thinly and evenly with a rolling pin and cut from it 12 stars that will partially cover the top of the mince pies
9. When cooked, remove the pie cases from the oven, leaving it on
10. Spoon about 1 tsp of mincemeat into each case and top with a star
11. Place back into the oven for a further 10-15 minutes until golden brown and bubbling
12. Remove from oven and leave to cool before removing from the tin

If you fancy a proper HOME-MADE mince pie recipe please visit:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1813664/mince-pies