Gluten-free mince pies

These festive mince pies will go down a treat with anyone this christmas, gluten-free or not! Christmas really wouldn’t be christmas without them, so why not make this healthier alternative. The pastry is lovely, crisp and crumbly and the filling is packed with festive flavours, you won’t be able to resist having more than one 😉 I had mine served warm with some dairy-free vanilla ice-cream, yum yum!

Ingredients 

Crust 
60g dairy-free margarine, plus extra for greasing
2 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
75g ground almonds
50g gram (chickpea) flour
50g gluten free plain flour
A pinch of pink himalayan salt

Filling
1 apple, cored and chopped into small pieces
1 tsp vanilla essence
100g mixed raisins, sultanas and currants
100g dried cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
Juice of 1 fresh orange
1 tsp coconut oil

Instructions

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4.

Place the mincemeat ingredients into a saucepan and stir. Simmer and cover for about 20 minutes, until the apples are soft

Meanwhile, make the crust. Lightly grease the hollows of an 6-piece muffin tins with dairy-free margarine. Also line the bottoms of the hollows with baking paper.

Add all of the crust ingredients into a food processor and process to form a dough. Flour a work surface and a rolling pin. Roll out a portion of the dough thinly and cut 6 small star shapes for the lids.

Gluten-free pastry is very delicate, so it is easiest to make the pie bases by taking a lump and then squidging the pastry evenly around the hollow with your thumb. Bake the crusts for 8 minutes until lightly brown.

Spoon 1 tbsp mincemeat into each pie. Put a star on top of each one and bake again for a further 8 minutes.

Leave the pies in the tin until cool. Ease a butter knife around the edge of each pie before tipping out. Enjoy and Merry Christmas