Healthy, Primal, vegetarian mince pies (or vegan, if you substitute coconut oil for butter) without added sugar, wheat flour or other grains? Yes please!
This recipe is my adaptation of an original recipe I found in Good Food Magazine, Christmas 2007. However, Primal Plate gluten-free mince pies are made with tiger nut and almond flour pastry encasing dollops of delicious homemade mincemeat that has no sugar or fat added. So in spite of them tasting like the best mince pies you’ve ever eaten, you can have all of the pleasure with none of the guilt. I should warn you, even if you’re stuffed to the gunnels with other Christmas food, you’re still going to want to find room for more when you espy these sweet delights!
But that’s okay, because you can’t really ‘fall off the wagon’ when you’re substituting nutritious, low-carb ingredients for grain flour and only using half the pastry of normal mince pies! Plus, these Crumble-Topped Mince Pies are so meltingly delicious, and look so winter wonderland with their crunchy ‘snow-capped’ topping, that it just won’t seem right to let Christmas day pass you by without one!
They disappear fast in our house, so blogging the recipe seemed sort of compulsory in the run up to Christmas - my fella thinks that eating at least two a day will help keep you in the festive spirit! They’re a much lighter and healthier alternative to the ‘heavy-weights’ found stacked on supermarket shelves (since last September!) and those endorsed by baking traditionalists, and happily, given the demand by my nearest and dearest, they are also ridiculously easy to make.
Essentially, the mincemeat and the tiger nut pastry both only need a quick ‘whizz’ in a food processor and they’re made. And, since the mince pies can conveniently be cut, pre-assembled and frozen in their tins, you can always have a batch 'at the ready’ for when you need them. Once defrosted, making the crumble and topping the pies takes less than 5 minutes.
If you like mince pies, these extra special mince pies can’t fail to impress. You won’t like them...you’ll love them!
Crumble-topped Mince Pies (V)
Ingredients - for the mince pies
1 medium/large ripe banana
100g organic raisins
100g organic sultanas
100g organic currants
50g organic dried cranberries, no added sugar
60g Medjool dates (about 3), stoned and chopped
50g flaked almonds
Finely grated zest of 1 organic orange, juice of ½ orange
25g Sukrin Gold
½ tsp grated cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
½ tsp ground ginger
3 tbsp brandy
Ingredients - for the pastry
125g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes + a little extra for greasing (or to convert to vegan use coconut oil)
50g Sukrin reduced-fat organic almond flour
1 tbsp Sukrin icing sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 organic orange
1tbsp cold water
Ingredients - for the crumble topping
25g butter, melted (or use coconut oil if you don’t eat dairy)
25g organic ground almonds
25g flaked almonds
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
25g Sukrin Gold
To serve
A little Sukrin icing sugar
Instructions - to make the mincemeat
Simply mix everything together in a food processor until well combined and the texture of mincemeat. Done!
Instructions - to make the pastry
Put the tiger nut flour, almond flour, butter (or coconut oil), icing sugar and orange zest into the bowl of a food processor and whizz together until the mixture starts to clump together.
Add the tablespoon of water and briefly whizz again.
Tip the mixture out onto a sheet of non-stick (parchment) paper. Press it together into a ball, flatten into a disc with the palm of your hand then cover with another piece of non-stick pastry.
Pre-heat the oven to 180℃ / 350℉ / Gas mark 4. Lightly grease a shallow bun tin.
Roll the dough out between the two sheets of non-stick baking parchment to a 2-3mm thickness. Using a 7½ cm (3 inch) fluted round cutter, stamp out discs from the pastry. Gently place the discs of pastry into each section of the bun tin.
Press any pastry trimmings back together, re-roll and continue cutting out more discs until you have as many pastry cases as you want, or the pastry is used up - this quantity of pastry dough should make about 16 mince pies.
Fill each pastry shell with 1 heaped teaspoon mincemeat and spread out to smooth.
At this point, the mince pies can be frozen, uncooked in trays for up to 1 month
Instructions - for the crumble-topping
When you’re ready to cook the mince pies, melt the butter over a low heat, allow to cool slightly, then combine all the crumble ingredients in a small bowl and sprinkle a little on the top of each mince pie.
Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked and golden brown.
Cool in the tin(s) for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling tray.
Sift a little Sukrin icing sugar over the top of the mince pies before serving.
Notes
The mincemeat recipe will make about 36 mince pies. Because it doesn’t contain any sugar, it won’t keep like ordinary mincemeat. However, it can be stored in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
These mince pies are good eaten warm or cold. To re-heat them after baking, simply warm them in a pre-heated oven at 180℃ for 5 minutes. Don’t forget to dust with a little extra Sukrin icing sugar before serving, as any previously sprinkled on top of the mince pies dissolves in the heat of the oven second time around!
Carbohydrate 14g Protein 3g - per mince pie
