Vegan Mince Pies

Is it possible to enjoy Christmas without mince pies? I think not. One of the lovely things about living in a community as international as Edinburgh is it brings to light the absurdity of some British traditions – including mince pies. I find myself explaining that no, it’s not a proper Christmas party without mince pies, yes, they are sweet and no, we don’t put actual meat in them anymore. Often supermarket mince pies are accidentally vegan but this year (thanks to the falling global milk price) most of them seem to contain butter, although I have spotted some vegan ones in Waitrose. To make your own vegan mince pies is easy and only differs from the traditional recipe by substituting baking margerine, such as Stork, for butter. This is the recipe that my mum uses every year and the pies never stay around for long!

You Will Need (makes 12 – 18 mince pies):
Jar of mincemeat (if you look for mincemeat with vegetable suet it is usually vegan)
One round and one star shaped cookie cutter
8oz flour (plus extra for dusting)
5oz vegan margarine
2oz icing sugar

Step 1: Sift flour and sugar into a large bowl, chop the margarine into squares, and rub the flour into the margarine until it forms a soft ball.

Step 2: Flour a clean surface and roll the dough out to 5mm thick. Cut out circles from half the dough and stars from the other half.

Step 3: Flour the cupcake trays and fill with a circle of dough, a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat filling and top with a dough star.

Step 4: Bake in a moderate oven (180 degrees c or 360 degrees f) for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Dust with icing sugar once cool.

I hope you’re enjoying this festive period, whatever you celebrate, and make sure to try a mince pie on me if you haven’t before!