Easy Iced Mince Pies

Mince Pies

1. Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F and grease a 12 hole cupcake tray with a little butter.
2. Place the flour and the cubed butter in a mixing bowl and rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. (You can do this in a food processor, if you prefer, but I prefer to do it by hand as I think you get a better result.)
3. Slowly add the cold water 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture just starts to come together. Use your hands to form the mixture into a ball, but take care not to overwork the dough.
4. Roll out the pastry until it is a little bigger than your cupcake tray.
5. Carefully cut out circles of pastry with a fluted cutter that is 8cm (3¼inches) in diameter. Place the pastry circles in the prepared cupcake tray.
6. Next place 2 teaspoons of mincemeat in each pastry case. Do not over-fill as the mincemeat will expand slightly and you need to leave enough room for the icing (See Note 2.)
7. Place the mince pies in your pre-heated oven and cook for 15-18 minutes until the pastry is golden brown cooked through.
8. Leave the mince pies to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack.
9. Leave the mince pies to cool completely before adding the topping.

Iced Topping

1. Mix together the icing sugar and a very small amount of cold water, until you have a very thick icing. Add 1 teaspoon of water at a time and stir it in thoroughly before adding another teaspoon. Stop adding water as soon as there is no more powder. (You are aiming for VERY thick icing – as thick as possible without there being any white powder left.)
2. Take a heaped teaspoon of the icing and drizzle it over the top of one of the mince pies. Use the back of the teaspoon to gently spread the icing all over the top, so you can no longer see any of the mincemeat.
3. Repeat for the remaining 11 mince pies.
4. Top each mince pie with a glacé cherry in the centre.
5. Finally, leave the icing to set before serving.