Anyone who has been reading my blog for a while will probably have realised that I have two baking heros. For the last ten (actually it’s nearly 13, but who’s counting?) years Nigella Lawson has been my baking partner of choice. This last year she has been joined, but by no means replaced, by Dan Lepard. It seems only right, then, that my first mince pie of the season should be a Lawson-Lepard fusion.
I decided that for me the slightly sour cranberry mincemeat needed a somewhat richer, sweeter pastry than Nigella suggests. Dan Lepard’s Extra Rich Mince Pies recipe (found in Short and Sweet, but also available online here) provides a shortcrust pastry with added sugar, cream cheese and ground almonds. Just what I was after.
The oozing cranberry juice makes them look a little more suitable for halloween than Christmas. Perhaps this is what made them so popular with the under threes.
Making, Baking and Raking 