Christmas Mince Pies with Chocolate

INGREDIENTS

350g Plain Flour
3 tablespoons Cocoa Powder
6 tablespoons Icing Sugar
200g Butter - Chilled and Cubed
1 Large Egg - lightly beaten
1-2 tablespoons Ice Cold Water
750g Mincemeat
75g Pecan Nuts (I missed out this ingredient as my youngest has allergies)
50g Plain Dark Chocolate
3 tablespoons Apricot Glaze or Cranberry Jelly
1 tablespoon Golden Icing Sugar for Dusting

1) Mix the Icing Sugar, Flour and Cocoa Powder together.

2) Add the butter and rub until you have a breadcrumb texture.

3) Pour in the beaten egg and 1 tablespoon of the water.

4) Mix until it all starts to blend together (add more water if needed).

5) Knead the pastry until smooth and then wrap it in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

1) Roll out the pastry on a floured surface.

2) Cut your circles (5 inch) - either with a cutter or a saucer. (I used the top of a big mug!)

3) Knead any leftover bits of pastry together and re-roll them and get as many circles as you can.

4) Grease a deep muffin tin or put cake cases in it.

5) Add your circles of pastry, pressing down so that you will be able to fill with mincemeat.

1) Spoon in the Mincemeat, do not overfill - you need to have a bit of pastry around the edges to cover your filling with

2) Top with Pecan nuts and Chocolate

3) Have a piece of Chocolate

4) Press the pastry edges up and over the filling to make a rim

5) Brush the tops with either apricot glaze or cranberry jelly

6) That's it! Bake in the oven at 200 degrees c / Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes

7) Cool in the tin

VOILA!

All thats left to do is dust

them with Icing Sugar -

Oh and of course -

ENJOY!!!

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