There’s nothing better than sitting down with a cup of tea and warm mince pie on a cold Winter’s day. Our beautiful mince pies are super easy to make and will make anyone smile over the festive season!

All you need is our no spread short-crust pastry recipe, a jar of mincemeat and one of our Christmas moulds!

Short-crust pastry recipe

Ingredients

230g (8oz) plain flour

125g (4 1/2oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes

50g (1 3/4oz) icing sugar

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk (for egg wash)

boiling water

1. Place the flour and butter into the bowl or a freestanding mizer and attach the paddle beater. Mix on a medium speed until the butter has been incorporated into the flour and resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the icing sugar and mix for a few seconds before adding the egg yolk and milk. Continue to mix until a cohesive dough forms.
2. Turn out the pastry onto a work surface and bring it together with your hands, without overworking it.
3. Lay out a long sheet of cling film and place the dough on one half. Flatten the pastry with the palms of your hands, then fold the remaining cling film over the top, fully encasing the dough. Roll out swiftly between the cling film to an approximate depth of 5mm, trying your best to keep it in a circular shape.
4. Place in the fridge for at least an hour before using.
5. After resting, roll out on to your work surface, dust lightly with plain flour if needed.
6. Use 8cm round cutter to cut bases for your mince pies.
7. Place in a lightly greased tin and prick base with a fork.
8. Add a 15ml tablespoon of mincemeat to each base
9. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 190c/gas mark 5/375f
10. Dust your chosen mould with plain flour, tap out any excess. Work and soften your pastry before pressing firmly into your mould. Mould as you would do with sugarpaste or cookie dough.
11. Turn out on to a lined baking tray.
12. You can also use our larger border moulds to mould a large border of pastry then use cookie cutters to cut out individual mince pies toppers.
13. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 190c/gas mark 5/375f
14. Place your baked toppers on top of your pies.
15. They look beautiful left plain, dusted with a little icing sugar or you can finish by spraying with PME edible pearl lustre or brushing in places with a little edible glue then sprinkling over Magic Sparkles.

Our Cookie Craft recipes are guaranteed not to spread but here we share with you some further tips to make sure that you get perfect cookies every time..

1. Chill your dough – Chilling cookie dough will help to prevent spreading.  For best results chill the cookie dough overnight. After chilling, let your cookie dough come to room temperature  before moulding and baking otherwise your dough will be too solid to mould.
2. Line your baking tray – Use baking paper or a silicone baking mat. Don’t use a nonstick spray or butter as this will cause your cookies to become greasy and spread.
3. Ouch that’s hot! – If baking your cookies in batches, don’t put your next batch onto a hot baking tray. Use another tray or wait for your tray to cool and always use a new piece of baking paper or allow your silicone mat to cool down before moulding your next batch of dough.
4. Butter, butter, butter – When butter is too warm, it is too soft. When butter is too soft, your cookies will spread all over the baking sheets. You want your butter to be room temperature. When you press it, your finger will make an indent. Your finger won’t sink down into the butter, nor will your finger slide all around.
5. Correctly measure your flour – Cookies spread because the fat in the cookie dough melts in the oven. If there isn’t enough flour to hold that melted fat, the cookies will over-spread. Spoon and level your flour or, better yet, weigh your flour. If your cookies are still spreading, add an extra 2 tablespoons of flour to the cookie dough.
6. Don’t over mix your dough – Don’t leave your dough unattended mixing away in your mixer while you get on with tidying up. Beating too much air into your dough can cause your cookies to collapse.
7. One batch at a time, on the middle rack – This is how to get the best possible results.
8. Freeze – Once you have moulded your dough, you can put your designs in the freezer for 10 minutes whilst your wait for your oven to warm up. Your dough may have become warm from the heat of your hands whilst moulding.

Ready, set, bake!

We often make cookies using our moulds. They are perfect for Christmas tree decorations, baby showers, gifts and wedding favours. They are also delicious!

The secret to creating perfect moulded cookies is to use a dough that won’t spread..

Here we share with you our perfect gingerbread recipe..

Perfect Gingerbread Recipe

• 75g light brown soft sugar
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 tablespoon black treacle (this can be substituted for a tbsp. of golden syrup to make your gingerbread lighter)
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 rounded teaspoon ground ginger
• A pinch of cloves
• 95g unsalted butter
• 250g plain flour sifted, plus a little more (if needed).

Method

1. Put the sugar, syrup, (treacle), water, and spices together in a large saucepan.

2. Bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter until melted.

3. Next, stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth dough – add a little more flour if you think it needs it. Knead your dough and then leave it covered in a cool place to become firm (approximately 30 minutes).

4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.

If you’re not immediately making the cookies, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate (or freeze) until you are ready to use it. Before using, bring to room temperature.

Now you are ready to mould and decorate!

How To Mould And Bake

As a general rule of thumb, we suggest that you follow the moulding instructions that come with your mould. Otherwise, please follow the steps below..

1. Dust your mould with Plain Flour or Cornflour and tap out any excess.
2. Take some of your cookie dough and roll into a smooth ball. Press the smoothest side down into your mould. Use your fingers to push the dough into the mould until it is flat on the back and up to all of the edges. Use your thumb to tear away any excess. If using one of our larger moulds, you can roll your dough into the mould using a rolling pin.

*Top Tip* If you would like to bake your cookies onto lollipop sticks, now is the time to attach them! With your dough still in the mould – place the top of your stick about half way up the back of the moulded item. Take a small piece of spare cookie dough and press over the back of the stick so you can no longer see it. This will secure your stick into your dough. *Please note* Lollipop sticks can only be added to items that are complete once turned out of the mould. If you plan on cutting your moulded item with a shaped cutter afterwards, you will distort the shape.

3. Turn your mould over and slowly peel the mould back until you see the dough start to fall out. Keep pulling back slowly so as not to tear any thinner details.

4. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper (you may have to bake in batches).

5. Each design will vary in cooking time due to their various thicknesses. Smaller items take approx. 8 minutes. Larger items take 10 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on your oven to prevent anything from burning.

6. Once baked leave them to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

7. Cookies can then be decorated with edible powder colours, edible paints, edible glitter and/or royal icing!

Ready, set, bake!

We often make cookies using our moulds. They are perfect for Christmas tree decorations, baby showers, gifts and wedding favours. They are also delicious!

The secret to creating perfect moulded cookies is to use a dough that won’t spread..

Here we share with you our perfect sugar cookie recipe..

Perfect Sugar Cookie Recipe

• 75g caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 tablespoon water
• 95g unsalted butter
• 260g plain flour sifted, plus a little more (if needed)

Optional Flavours

• For vanilla cookies, add seeds from 1 vanilla pod
• For lemon cookies, add finely grated zest of 1 lemon
• For orange cookies, add finely grated zest of 1 orange
• For chocolate cookies, replace 50g of the plain flour with 50g cocoa powder

Method

1. Put the sugar, syrup, water, and any zest flavouring or vanilla seeds together in a large saucepan.
2. Bring them to boiling point, stirring all the time. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the butter until melted.
3. Next, stir in the flour gradually until you have a smooth dough (remember to substitute 50g of flour for 50g of cocoa powder if making chocolate cookies) – add a little more flour if you think it needs it. Knead your dough and then leave it covered in a cool place to become firm (approximately 30 minutes).
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4.
5. If you’re not immediately making cookies, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate (or freeze) until you are ready to use it. Before using, bring to room temperature.

How To Mould And Bake

As a general rule of thumb, we suggest that you follow the moulding instructions that come with your mould. Otherwise, please follow the steps below..

1. Dust your mould with Plain Flour or Cornflour and tap out any excess.
2. Take some of your cookie dough and roll into a smooth ball. Press the smoothest side down into your mould. Use your fingers to push the dough into the mould until it is flat on the back and up to all of the edges. Use your thumb to tear away any excess. If using one of our larger moulds, you can roll your dough into the mould using a rolling pin.

*Top Tip* If you would like to bake your cookies onto lollipop sticks, now is the time to attach them! With your dough still in the mould – place the top of your stick about half way up the back of the moulded item. Take a small piece of spare cookie dough and press over the back of the stick so you can no longer see it. This will secure your stick into your dough. *Please note* Lollipop sticks can only be added to items that are complete once turned out of the mould. If you plan on cutting your moulded item with a shaped cutter afterwards, you will distort the shape.

3. Turn your mould over and slowly peel the mould back until you see the dough start to fall out. Keep pulling back slowly so as not to tear any thinner details.

4. Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper (you may have to bake in batches).

5. Each design will vary in cooking time due to their various thicknesses. Smaller items take approx. 8 minutes. Larger items take 10 – 15 minutes. Keep an eye on your oven to prevent anything from burning.

6. Once baked leave them to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack.

7. Cookies can then be decorated with edible powder colours, edible paints, edible glitter and/or royal icing!

Ready, set, bake!