Mini Mince Pies

Terribly late for a Christmas recipe I know but maybe something to keep in mind for the next one. I have been making them for two years running and they are so easy to whizz up in the processor. I ended up making 120 of them for family who asked me for them, if that isn't a recommendation I don't know what is! The recipe is from Waitrose and originally is meant to have lemon icing on the top. They are very nice that way but don't tend to store well so I decided to put a little lid on them instead. I hadn't got a cutter the right size and ended up using a camera film case. The lids don't need to be as thick as the main pastry shell and they do take a little longer to bake than the open ones. There is no need to press the patry into the tins completely, just position the edges to the top of the hole in the tin, once the mincemeat is in and they are baking the heat will push the case down to the bottom and there is less risk of it leaking.

Mini Mince Pies with (or without!) Lemon icing
Makes 36 or 24 with lids

Preparation time 20 minutes, plus 30 minutes chilling

200g plain flour
100g cold butter, cubed
25g ground almonds
50g icing sugar
1 egg, beaten (I use medium size)
410g jar of mincemeat (I use about half per 24 pies)

For the icing
8tbsp icing sugar
Zest and rind of 1 lemon.

Place the flour, butter, ground almonds, icing sugar and egg in a processor and whizz until it forms a ball. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead slightly. Wrap in clingfilm and put it in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to Gas 6/Fan oven 190c/electric oven 200c. Roll out half the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use a 6cm cutter to cut out 24-36 rounds (if making with lids use the remaining pastry rolled out more thinly to cut out smaller rounds) Then place each round in a section of a mini muffin tin. Add a small teaspoon of mincemeat to the middle (remember they sink a bit while cooking)

Bake until they are just beginning to brown (10-12 minutes. 15 minutes for ones with lids) Cool in tin for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack. If your mincemeat has leaked you will need to get them out before it dries too much and they stick. Allow to cool completely.

For the icing, mix the icing sugar with enough lemon juice to make a thick paste and drizzle over the top and add the lemon zest.

One-size-fits-all cupcakes

It was Boy's class Christmas party today. I was hoping to make lots of little cakes for him to take in but the plan was that each child brought in their own food on a paper plate wrapped in clingfilm with their name on. So that rained on my parade a little. I suppose I can see the sense in it as they could have either ended up with mountains of food or none at all and I suppose offering food around to 60+ children takes time so I can forgive them (just about!) I promised Boy I would make him something cakey especially anyway. At least this is one thing I have minimal chance of making Bad Things Happen. I've been having one of those type of weeks to be honest. I've had to break out the emergency freezer pizza twice in a week. I seem to have lost my kitchen mojo. Just the thought of the wasted food makes me so ashamed. Jinxed, I'm sure.

Anyhow, continuing my obsession with mini muffin cases I decided to make my cupcakes teeny sized. Boy expressed a preference for Jelly Tots and I made them festive and green too. The recipe I use exactly fills 24 mini muffin cases or 12 cupcake cases so they are rounded and full when baked, but not overflowing or 12 muffin cases that are to be filled up with icing to the top Nigella-style. I like the way they don't peak and need trimming down before icing, they just go into a nice dome with minimal cracking on top. They are so light and fluffy too and don't stick to the cases.


One-size-fits-all cupcakes

4oz/110g butter (softened) or margarine
4oz/110g golden caster sugar
2 eggs
4oz/110g self raising flour, sifted

• Preheat oven to Gas 5/190c
  
• Cream together butter and sugar until light and well combined
• Add the eggs and whisk until incorpotated
  
• Add the sifted flour and fold/whisk in until mixture is fluffy with no lumps!!
• Divide between 12 cupcake, 24 mini muffin or 12 muffin cases.
• Bake for 10-20 minutes (depending on size of cakes) until a pale golden colour.
• Ice with buttercream, frosting, sprinkles, Smarties, chocolate etc etc etc!!
  

I know it's tempting to shove all the ingredients in all at once and just mix but I think adding it in stages makes them a lot nicer.

Mini Cupcakes

Sorry about the break in posting, I've been ill and lazy (in that order) Being sick doesn't lend itself to looking at, talking about or making any cakes. I thought I'd never eat again let alone bake, 'twas a scary time *shudder* In the lazy period that followed I did make some stuff but couldn't be bothered doing much more than taking a few pics and then eating so now I have a bit of a backlog of pictures to work my way through and waffle on about.

Ok, at the moment I have a minor obsession with sprinkles (or 100's and 1000's if you prefer) and mini muffin cases. Inspired by the pic at the top (which I didn't make by the way, I got it from a royalty free photo site as it looked pretty) and powered by a 2 for £2 offer on Smarties I decided to recreate the pic in mini form. I used just a basic cupcake recipe with 1oz of cocoa added which did make them a little dry (oops) but it wasn't too bad once the chocolate was on top. I melted some chocolate and added some milk to it to make it smoother then Boy helped me decorate them, I did the dipping and he was on Smartie and sprinkle duty. I think they look cute!

Mini Muffins

Have a bit of catching up to do!! I made two batches of mini muffins for my sister-in-law to take into work as she has been there a year. Muffins used to be one of those things I just couldn't get right, I have spent ages looking for and trying out different recipes. The Delia one for Chocolate Drop Mini Muffins , I spent so long reading the damned recipe I left the butter in the microwave (cue temper!) Even when I calmed down and made them again properly they weren't quite right. I wanted ones that don't stick to the cases for a start.
I eventually found one online that I changed around a little bit to make the quantity slightly different as I hate having any spare mixture left over, it's a pet peeve of mine. I like them to all fit in the oven in full trays. Also I changed a couple of the ingredients so I think I can now claim it as my own.

Double Chocolate Mini Muffins
Makes 24

75g/3oz plain flour
1tsp baking powder
25g/1oz cocoa
75g/3oz granulated sugar
75g/3oz milk chocolate chips or chopped up chocolate
50g/2oz melted butter, cooled slightly
100ml/4 fl.oz milk
1 large free-range egg, beaten

1. Sieve the flour, baking powder and cocoa into a bowl. Stir in the sugar and chocolate
2. Make a well in the middle and pour on the butter, then the milk and egg.
3. Mix roughly with a fork until just combined. The mix will be very runny.
4. Fill tray with mini-muffin cases and divide the mixture carefully between them. The choc chips cause it to splash everywhere!! I find it best to put it in a jug and pour, or if you have a bowl with a spout use that from the start. Keep close to the cases to minimise ploppage.
5. Bake at Gas 5, 190c, fan oven 180c for 12 minutes. They will be well risen and lovely and shiny. Can be eaten warm or cold.

To make plain choc chip ones replace the cocoa with 25g/1oz more flour and add a bit of vanilla essence. I was also after a recipe for white chocolate and cranberry ones as this one didn't work out at all. They didn't rise and were very sticky and too sweet. I tried it out for the first time with the plain muffin recipe and they turned out fab. 50g/2oz of white choc is enough as too much tends to make them erupt a little but it does go all nice and caramelly. I didn't add the cranberries to the mixture as they make the aforementioned ploppage problem 10x worse. I half filled the cases, added 2 dried cranberries to each and then covered them over with more mixture. I find they take a couple of minutes longer to bake than the double choc ones.

I was making 48 at once so I decided to put all the ingredients ready to save any 'Crap I forgot the sugar/butter' moments. Made me feel very Blue Peter.