Marzipan Mince Pies with Rummed Up Vegan Whipped Cream

Well hello again!!!!  I'm back, I'm back!!! First of all, apologies for the extended blog holiday, we really thought we would be living in the new house in September but that turned into October, then November! We are however now in, have slept here twice now and simply love it. The house is amazing, I still can't believe the size of my kitchen, it's an absolute joy to cook and bake in - especially compared to my last closet sized kitchen!

Furthermore, I am loving Ireland. I knew I would as we came here often before but it's even better now :-) All in all, life is grand!! (picking up the lingo ;-)) Thank you all for sticking around and a warm welcome to all my new followers! Thank you :-) Now, back to the FOOD!

I last made these years ago, back in the vegetarian days and you can find these on my old blog. I've been seeing all the mince pies popping up in the shops and had a serious craving, even if it is a wee bit early ;-) Sure, a lot of the store bought pies are vegan but these really are lovely - a little disc of marzipan lines each little tart and the pastry has a little lemon zest in it - very nice. The cream was a total experiment but we both loved it with these, sweet, rummy and vegan - what's not to love?? ;-)

Marzipan Mince Pies with Rummed up Vegan Whipped Cream

200g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 Tbsp caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
100g vegetable fat/shortening
about 120ml ice water
about 85g white marzipan
mincemeat, store bought, check vegan

Rum Whipped Cream

150g soya whipping cream from a carton, well chilled, or chilled coconut cream
50g icing sugar
1 Tbsp dark rum

First make your pastry, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Cut in the vegetable fat until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the lemon zest and sugar. Add the ice water and stir with a fork until the mixture just comes together, you don't want it too wet. Gather into a ball, flatten into a disc, wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200C and have a 12 hole mince pie tart tin ready. Remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to sit for 5 - 10 min. Roll out and cut out circles to fit your pie tin, save all the scraps. Now take the marzipan and roll it out. Cut out circles to fit the inside of the pastry lined tarts, you can have a look at my old blog for a photo of this. Spoon in the marzipan, about 1 Tbsp per tart, depending on the size of your pan. Re-roll the scraps and cut out shapes for the tops, I used hearts and stars here. Place the shapes on top of the tarts then bake for about 15 - 18 minutes, or until tarts are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 10 minutes then remove tarts to a cooling rack.

To make the cream, simply whisk together the soya cream, icing sugar and rum until light and fluffy - store in the fridge. Tarts are good warm or room temperature, with a big dollop of cream and steaming mug of coffee :-)

♥ 2012 Edit ♥

Not that the above pastry isn't delicious, it is, I just decided to try another one that is more based on my standard pastry as it is soooo flaky. This is an alternative pastry recipe for you and really, really good :-) Recipe will make just enough for 12 mince pies using a tart pan, if using a muffin tin or something else "deep dish" you may want to double it.

Alternate Pastry:

1 cup flour

88g cold shortening (1/3 cup + 2 tsp)

2 Tbsp cold water

1 tsp white vinegar

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp golden caster sugar (or just granulated)

zest of 1 orange or lemon 

Add the flour, salt, sugar, zest and shortening to a food processor and process until well mixed and the shortening is not noticeable. With the motor running slowly add the cold water and vinegar until it is moist but still crumbly. Tip out onto a surface and bring together into a ball then flatten it down to a disc and wrap in cling film then chill for 1/2 hour. 

♥