The mince pie recipe

I found the original version of this recipe on the Moneysavingexpert website back in 2008 and have since adapted it slightly to increase the amount it makes, so I am now sharing my version of the only mince pie recipe you will ever need. Forget Delia, Nigel and Nigella - this recipe comes from the next door neighbour of an MSE poster called Researcher!

It now makes 5 dozen mince pies - and you won't have any hanging around!

1.5 lbs of SR flour (yes, SR!)

8oz Trex (white vegetable fat)

4oz lard

6oz caster sugar

2 eggs

100ml cold water (exactly 100ml, not a drop more or less)

I find that this quantity of pastry requires 2.5 jars of mincemeat.

Place the flour and sugar in a large bowl and rub in the fat until it looks like breadcrumbs. Beat the two eggs together and mix into the flour/fat with the water using a knife.

Then use your hands to knead the mixture and pull it all together into a large lump of pastry.

The pastry is very pliable and soft, so I find there is a need to be gentle with it!

Use plenty of flour to roll out a fifth of the piece, and cut out large circles to line the tins. After adding a teaspoon of mincemeat to each, pop on a smaller circle for a lid, and then make holes with a fork in the lid, and brush with beaten egg. Repeat until you have used up all the dough.

I cook these in a fan oven at 180C for about 10 minutes until they are lightly golden.

When I remove them from the oven, I leave them to rest for about 10 minutes before I attempt to remove them from the tins. The original recipe tells you to put a wire rack over the tin and tip them out, but I found that the lids fell off when I tried that, so now I ease them out extremely carefully with a palette knife, but they are fragile when they are hot, so it is better to leave them for a few minutes. I do have the odd casualty which the FH hoovers up, but in making 5 dozen tonight, I released them all whole!

A little sprinkling of caster sugar before serving finishes them off beautifully.

They can be frozen!