Crust for Mince Pies
Ingredients
Directions
Make the pastry
Combine 1/2 lb. of Allinson fine wheatmeal, 1/2 lb. of medium oatmeal, 6 oz. of butter or vege‑butter, and 1 cupful of cold water.
Rub the butter into the flour, add the water, and mix all into a paste with a knife.
Roll the paste out thin on a floured board.
Cut the rolled dough into pieces with a tumbler or biscuit cutter.
Assemble and bake
Line small patty pans with the cut pieces.
Fill the lined pans with mincemeat.
Cover the mincemeat with a piece of the paste, moisten the edges, and press them together.
Bake the mince pies in a quick oven; they will be done in 15 to 20 minutes.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Butter or vege-butter (in the method)
- Rubbed into the flour to add fat, which shortens the dough and keeps it tender.
- Allinson fine wheatmeal (in the method)
- Forms the main structure of the paste once mixed with water.
- Medium oatmeal (in the method)
- Adds a coarser texture and nutty flavour to the crust.
- Cold water
- Binds the flour and fat into a workable paste.
The step that matters
Rubbing the butter into the flour. If the butter is warm or overworked, it melts into the flour instead of staying in small pieces, making the crust greasy and tough rather than short and crumbly.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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