Ooh I’m rushing in quick (and just in the nick of time), to share with you this rather fabulous festive recipe for delicious gluten free frangipane topped mince pies.
My recommendation, is to enjoy these moreish, soft frangipane topped mince pies, warm with a spot of fresh thick cream – and your feet up with a cuppa!
This recipe has been adapted from James Martin’s frangipane recipe.
Ingredients (makes 24)
For the pastry
200g (7oz) gluten free plain flour or mix
100g (3½oz) hard butter (or margarine) cubed
1 large beaten egg
Pinch of salt added to the flour if using unsalted butter
½ teaspoon *xanthan gum (optional)
Cold water
For the filling
1 jar *mincemeat
200g (7oz) butter (leave out for a little while to soften, if using block butter or use a spreadable one)
200g (7oz) caster sugar
200g (7oz) *ground almonds
4 large beaten eggs
1 teaspoon *vanilla extract
Method
Preheat the oven 200C/400F/Gas 6/Fan 180C
Lightly grease 2 x 12 hole muffin trays.
Blend together the gluten free flour/mix and xanthan gum in a large bowl. Add the butter and rub it in until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs (any larger bits of butter will be blended when you work the pastry before rolling it out).
Stir in the beaten egg and then add enough water to bring the pastry together. If you don’t add enough water, you will find the pastry difficult to work with. if you add a bit too much, don’t worry as you can ‘bring it back’ by adding a little extra gluten free flour.
Form the pastry into a ball and transfer onto a surface dusted with gluten free flour and knead for a couple of minutes until the pastry becomes smooth. By doing this the pastry will be much easier to handle.
I would suggest that you cut the pastry in half before you start to roll it out as it will be much easier to handle in smaller quantities. Keep dusting your worksurface and rolling pin with gf flour to ensure the pastry doesn’t stick.
Once you have rolled out the pastry nice and thinly, take a large round cutter (approximately 3½ inch) and cut out the pastry circles. Using a palette knife, transfer the pastry circles into the muffin tin cases and gently ease them into the mould.
Fill each pastry case with a teaspoon of mince mincemeat.
In a large bowl beat together the butter, sugar and vanilla essence – ideally using an electric mixer – until the mixture becomes light and creamy.
Gradually add the beaten egg to the mixture. Continues to whisk until the mixture is nice and smooth.
Finally add the ground almonds and mix well with a large spoon.
Grab 2 dessertspoons and top each mince pie with a generous spoonful of the frangipane mixture.
Pop in the oven and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown and firm to touch.
Once baked remove from the oven, allow to cool and then dust with icing sugar.
Recipe suggestion
I was delighted with how these frangipane mince pies turned out. Of course, you can always replace the mincemeat with a jam of your choice and turn these little tarts into cherry bakewell’s for example. On this occasion I actually only made 12 mince pies and used the remaining pastry and frangipane filling to make a small almond tart – I topped the frangipane with a few flaked almonds before I baked it (took about 30-40 mins – oven temp 180C/350F/Gas 4/160C Fan)) and then when it was cool I drizzled a little glace icing (icing sugar blended to a paste with boiled water) over the top of the tart.
I had so many plans of other things I wanted to share with you before Christmas but unfortunately, I blinked, and time just got the better of me! However, as the recipes that I tend to share with you are classics, there may be something else here that you fancy rustling up over Christmas!
Hope your Christmas is all you want it to be.
Liz x
P.S. If you are finding making gluten free pastry a little difficult, my quick pastry making video may just help.
*Check this product out to ensure no gluten containing ingredients or ‘may contain’ or ‘not suitable’ warnings on the pack. If in doubt leave it out.
