Delicious homemade mince pies topped with icing and a glacé cherry, instead of the traditional pastry top. These Easy Iced Mince Pies look and taste impressive, but are actually super simple to make, and they make a lovely change to traditional mince pies!
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Iced Mince Pies – my new favourite variation!
I am a huge fan of mince pies, I love making my favourite tried and true mince pie recipe – which are always super popular every year, here on the blog and in real life!
But I also love experimenting with new variations like:
This year I have been experimenting again… and these Iced Mince Pies might just be my new favourite variation!
They are super simple to make (even easier than regular mince pies!) and make a lovely change to traditional mince pies.
Iced Mince Pies with Crumble Topped Mince Pies.
How to make Iced Mince Pies
These Iced Mince Pies are so easy to make!
All you need to do is make a simple shortcrust pastry, then roll out the pastry and cut out circles of pastry with a fluted cutter. Place the pastry circles in the prepared cupcake tray. Next, place 2 teaspoons of mincemeat in each pastry case.
Then, place the mince pies in your pre-heated oven and cook for 15-18 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and cooked through. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely.
Finally, spoon over thick white icing – simply made from mixing icing sugar with water – and top with a glacé cherry. Easy peasy!
(Full recipe given in the recipe card below.)
What to serve with Iced Mince Pies
Normally, I like to serve mince pies with custard, cream or ice cream. But these iced mince pies are best served on their own.
What to drink with Iced Mince Pies
These delicious Iced Mince Pies go really well with Cream Sherry or Tawny Port. My top picks are Lustau East India Solera Reserva Sherry and Taylors Port 10 Year Old Tawny Port.
Of course, they are also wonderful with a cup of tea or coffee!
And, if you want to push the boat out, a demi-sec champagne also works very well here.
How to store iced mince pies
Store these Iced Mince Pies in a cake tin, or any other kind of air tight container.
(That is if there are any left – in my experience these mince pies are just too delicious, and rarely make it to the airtight container stage!)
How long will iced mince pies last?
When stored in an airtight container, iced mince pies will last up to 1 week, making them a great make-ahead option. However, they do taste at their very best on the day they are made.
Can you freeze iced mince pies?
No these iced mince pies do not fare well in the freezer.
However, you can freeze them BEFORE icing. And in that case, they will freeze very well.
Once cooled, simply place the undecorated mince pies in a plastic lidded container (put a sheet of baking parchment or greaseproof paper in between the layers) and pop them in the freezer, where they will keep for up to 3 months.
Defrost at room temperature for a couple of hours, then decorate as per the recipe card.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
- Easy Mincemeat Brownies
- Christmas Tree Brownies
- Christmas Rocky Road
- Christmas Star Biscuits
- Easy Mincemeat Christmas Cake (The BEST Christmas Cake Hack!)
- Mincemeat and Apple Crumble
Easy Christmas Tree Brownies
Easy Iced Mince Pies
Equipment
- Wooden spoon
- Rolling pin
- 8cm (3¼inch) fluted circular cutter
- 12 hole cupcake tray (holes 6cm/2½in wide, 2cm/¾in deep)
- Sieve
Ingredients
Mince Pies
- 200 g plain flour (US – all purpose flour)
- 100 g butter fridge cold and cut into small cubes (plus extra for greasing)
- Cold water (approximately 6 tablespoons - you may need less – see Note 1)
- 250 g good quality mincemeat (shop-bought is fine – I use Tesco Finest)
Iced Topping
- 200 g icing sugar sieved (US – confectioners sugar)
- Cold water (or lemon juice, or orange juice, if you prefer)
- 12 glacé cherries
Instructions
Mince Pies
- Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C fan / gas mark 6 / 400F and grease a 12 hole cupcake tray with a little butter.
- Place the flour and the cubed butter in a mixing bowl and rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. (You can do this in a food processor, if you prefer, but I prefer to do it by hand as I think you get a better result.)
- Slowly add the cold water 1 tablespoon at a time until the mixture just starts to come together. Use your hands to form the mixture into a ball, but take care not to overwork the dough.
- Roll out the pastry until it is a little bigger than your cupcake tray.
- Carefully cut out circles of pastry with a fluted cutter that is 8cm (3¼inches) in diameter. Place the pastry circles in the prepared cupcake tray.
- Next place 2 teaspoons of mincemeat in each pastry case. Do not over-fill as the mincemeat will expand slightly and you need to leave enough room for the icing (See Note 2.)
- Place the mince pies in your pre-heated oven and cook for 15-18 minutes until the pastry is golden brown cooked through.
- Leave the mince pies to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack.
- Leave the mince pies to cool completely before adding the topping.
Iced Topping
- Mix together the icing sugar and a very small amount of cold water, until you have a very thick icing. Add 1 teaspoon of water at a time and stir it in thoroughly before adding another teaspoon. Stop adding water as soon as there is no more powder. (You are aiming for VERY thick icing – as thick as possible without there being any white powder left.)
- Take a heaped teaspoon of the icing and drizzle it over the top of one of the mince pies. Use the back of the teaspoon to gently spread the icing all over the top, so you can no longer see any of the mincemeat.
- Repeat for the remaining 11 mince pies.
- Top each mince pie with a glacé cherry in the centre.
- Finally, leave the icing to set before serving.
Notes
- Add a tablespoon at a time, and stir it in thoroughly before adding another tablespoon. Stop adding water as soon as the dough just starts coming together. You are aiming for a dough that only just all sticks together. You do not want your dough to be wet and sloppy!
- Please note - a teaspoon and a tablespoon here refer to a standard UK teaspoon (5ml / ⅙floz) and a standard UK tablespoon (15ml / ½floz). It is important you stick to these measures to obtain optimum results.
- Not suitable for freezing. (The icing does not freeze well, however you CAN freeze BEFORE icing, then ice after defrosting, if you want to get ahead!)
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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This blog post contains affiliate links, this means if you click on a link and go on to buy the product I recommend, I will get a small commission, but you will not be charged a penny more – thanks in advance!
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