It's Saturday, which in the zoo means it's baking day!!
As we are in the festive mood we went for some mince pies and alcohol-free mulled wine
I had a bottle of alcohol-free red wine, and added:
200g of caster sugar
2 satsuma's, including peel
2 cinnamon sticks
10 whole cloves
1 tbsp nutmeg
3 bay leaves
Cap of vanilla essence
Stick it all in a pan on a high heat until the sugar dissolves on a rolling boil. Let it simmer for at least 20 minutes. I left it bubbling until our mince pies were ready
For the mince pies you will need:
1 jar of mincemeat for the filling
180g plain flour
130g butter
60g caster sugar
2 eggs
Icing sugar to decorate
****preheat oven to 180****
Tip the flour into a bowl
Whisk one of the eggs and pour in
Mix well until you have pastry
Wrap in cling film and leave in the fridge for at least 10 minutes
As our table cloth is covered in glitter glue, I stuck down some grease-proof paper to roll out the pastry on
Cut out 6 big circles for the bases and 6 small circles for the lids
Fill the cases with the jar of mincemeat
Whisk the second egg and use to brush the top of the cases before adding the lids - it helps seal them when cooking
Pop in the oven for 15 minutes and have a tantrum when they take too long...
The middle will be boiling hot and take a long time to cool down
They are worth the wait!!
The smell of the mince pies baking and mulled wine boiling really has made the house smell of Christmas
