Mince pies from absolute scratch

Ask Alister what he associates with Christmas and he'll tell you mince pies and Christmas pudding. Last year, by the time I got around to asking him this it was much to late to try to make them (they both need months of time to mature). So this year I got on it early in order to make mince pies. I spent October sloughing through the internet for recipes. Not only did I have to make a recipe that I had never made before - but I had to make it from ingredients I found here in Ukraine without really knowing how some of those ingrediants might effect the recipe.
I finally settled on a combination of Delia Smith's and Jill Dupleix's mince pies and followed the comments to improve the BBC pastry recipe. The result was 72 + super yummy mince pies.

The recipe below are my rough estimates of my variations

Mincemeat

• 200g butter
• 400g brown sugar
• 3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp All Spice
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 500g Apples, shredded
• 200g fresh, frozen, or dried cranberries (I used fresh)
• 400g mixed candied peel, finely chopped (In Ukraine - I bought candied mandarines and lemons from the Uzbeki kiosks and threw them in the food processor - I think I added some extra manadrines)
• 100g dried, candied cherries - chopped
  
• 50g almonds - coarsely chopped
• 100 g dried apricots - chopped
  
• 600 - 800g raisens, currents, and sultanas, dried. To me, they are all raisens. At the Uzbeki Kiosk I bought a variety of all the differnt ones they had - a bout 4 types. The bigger ones I had to cut the seeds out of. Also very important to wash and sort the the raisens before adding to the mix.
• grated zest and juice from 2 Oranges
• grated zest and juice from 1 lemon
  
• 300ml brandy, cognac, rum, or whisky. I used cognac (of course)

Mix the butter, sugar, juices, and spices in a big pot and gently cook until the butter is all melted. Throw in all the other ingrediants and mix well so that everything is covered by the butter mixture. Apparently - it is the butter that helps to keep everything from spoiling - so it is very important that it covers everything. Stir in the cognac (extra may be added for a boozy mincemeat). Pack firmly in sterilized jars. Screw on the lid to seal and put in a cold dark place, like a cellar or the back of your fridge at least 1 month before you plan to use it. The mixture will keep about 6 months.

Pastry for mince pies
225 g cold/frozen butter (Margarine doesn't work as well)
350g flour
100 g sugar
1 egg beaten
powdered sugar

Mix flour and sugar together in a bowl. Grate the butter into the flour mixture. You may want to dip the butter in flour and dust your grater periodically with flour. Alternatively - you may use room temperature butter and cut it in with a pastry blender. Mix gently. Add 1/2 your beaten egg and mix the dough enough to get it to stick together. Dump out on a pastry mat - roll out and cut into rounds slightly bigger than your muffin tin. Place the round in the GREASED tin and pat to shape and even out. Fill with your mince and top with another round - slightly smaller than the first. Press the edges together to seal, brush with the remainder of the beaten egg. Bake at 400F for 20 minutes. Allow to cool 5 - 10 minutes before removing from the pan.
Dust with powdered sugar and serve. Alister says they are best served with cream - but we didn't manage to eat any with cream.

The mincemeat filled 3 batches of the pastry dough.