“Christmas is a time when you get homesick — even when you’re home.”
– Carol Nelson
This is especially true when your Mum is world-famous-in-New Zealand for her Christmas mince pies and you can’t eat them because they contain non-AIP compliant ingredients…!
Today, as promised, I bring you part 2 in my 2 part Christmas Mince Pie series.
And, I’m dancing a wee metaphorical jig. Although, you’ll have to take my word for that as there will be no pictures!
No, really. I am. Because an AIP-compliant Christmas Mince Pie is a seriously BIG deal in my world.
Until these babies, it had been almost three years since my last Christmas mince pie.
Three long, slow, painful years bereft of Christmas mince pies!
Sad but true.
So this year, I am so very happy to bring you my take on AIP-friendly Christmas mince pies.
Full of AIP-friendly Christmas mince, no less.
Want to dance a wee metaphorical jig with me?
If you are a Christmas mince pie-lover, like me – well, let’s just consider this my AIP Christmas present to you.
And, so you know I’m not making up just how good these wee festive pies taste, I had my sister conduct a taste test. Her actual response was so colourful it can’t be printed (which, if you know my sister, is not that much of a surprise). But, suffice to say, the first one had barely gone down before she had a second in her hot little hands.
And. She has my Mum’s world-famous-in-New-Zealand Christmas mince pies as a benchmark. Just saying!
“Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas.”
– Peg Bracken
To make these VERY Merry AIP Christmas Mince Pies, you will need to first whip up a batch of
‘I Can’t Believe it’s AIP Christmas Mince’
It’s super easy to do, you just need to have all the ingredients.
- 1¼ cups 'I Can't Believe it's AIP Christmas Mince' (20 Tablespoons)
- 2 cups Otto's Cassava Flour
- 1 Tablespoon coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 160g lard, rendered from happy pigs (ghee may be substituted if successfully reintroduced)
- 6 - 8 Tablespoons iced water
- Sift your flour into the bowl of your food processor. Add sugar and salt. Pulse to mix.
- Roughly chop your lard into small pieces and add to the mixer. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
- Sprinkle in the iced water, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing as you go. You should add enough water that the dough starts to leave the side of the processor,
- Wrap in parchment paper and pop into the fridge for at least twenty minutes, or until ready to make pies.
- Heat your oven to 200°C/400°F
- Carefully roll just over half of your pastry out until thin. I pop it between two pieces of baking (parchment) paper. Cut out 20 rounds to (almost) fit two 12-hole muffin tins and carefully line each. This can be done in two batches if you only have one muffin tin. If the pastry tears, use pastry off-cuts to seal.
- Place one tablespoon of Christmas mince into each pastry case. Press in lightly with your fingers.
- Roll the remaining pastry out, and cut out stars to fit as toppers. Pop a pastry star topper onto each pie.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is cooked and the mixture is bubbling.
- Remove from tin onto cooling rack.
E N J O Y !
This recipe features in the Phoenix Helix Recipe Roundtable
Wow. You are creating some seriously amazing recipes here, Joanna! For me, it was Christmas Cake, that dark, seriously heavy cake filled with dried fruit & nuts & rum that my grandmother made each year from her grandmother’s recipe. I am so happy that you’ve successfully recreated your favourite festive treat! And these pictures are gorgeous…
LM thanks you for the compliments on the pics, Petra. He is my photographer!
Don’t even get me started on Christmas cake…
Hi Joanna – i’m planning on making these in a few weeks for christmas, and wondered if coconut oil could be substituted for the lard? I find lard has quite a strong flavour… Thanks!
Hi Bailey – to be honest, I have never made this with coconut oil, so I can’t say definitively! Otto’s cassava flour isn’t as ‘glutinous’ as regular wheat flour (obviously!) so you don’t have as much elasticity as you do with regular baking. I found this handy little article that may prove useful for you.
Are you making the Christmas fruit mince, too? I’ve just made my first batch (and am guilty of over-indulging).
I’m definitely making my own fruit mince. I don’t trust any of the variants we can buy from the supermarket here in NZ! I’ll take a look at the article you mentioned and let you know how it goes with coconut oil. I might do half and half with palm shortening 🙂
Half and half sounds like a GRAND idea (I’m assuming butter is off the table for you?)
Do let me know how you go and MERRY CHRISSIE! – I’m flying home for a Kiwi Christmas on the 22nd!
Hi again, just to let you know that 50:50 coconut oil and palm shortening worked a treat!! Merry Christmas 🙂
Awesome news, Bailey! Thanks so much for the update.