Gluten-free Christmas: Mince pies recipe

Makes 12

Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without mince pies, so I had to find a way of making a healthy version to keep up with tradition. I think I’ve found a tastier option, try them and see for yourself.

For the pastry:

60g (2oz/4 tbsp) vegan butter, plus extra for greasing

4 tbsp coconut palm sugar

½ tsp vanilla extract

85g (3oz/½ cup) rice flour, plus extra for dusting

50g (1¾oz/½ cup) chickpea flour (gram)

60g (2oz/scant ½ cup) cornflour (cornstarch)

¼ tsp xanthan gum

a pinch of Himalayan pink salt

3 tsp water

For the filling:

60g (2oz/scant ½ cup) unsweetened dried blueberries

100g (3½oz/⅔ cup) unsweetened dried cranberries

70g (2½oz/scant ½ cup) sultanas (golden raisins)

finely grated zest of 1 orange

juice of ½ orange

finely grated zest of 1 lemon

¼ tsp grated nutmeg

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Method

First, make the pastry. In a bowl, cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, mix together the flours, xanthan gum and salt. Pour the flour mix into the butter mixture, add the water and use your fingers to mix it together toform a dough. Knead for a minute and then roll into a ball, wrap in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and chill for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, put all the ingredients for the filling in a food processor and pulse until you achieve a rough consistency. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3, and grease a 12-hole muffin tin with vegan butter. Dust a work surface with some rice flour and roll out the pastry until 3mm (⅛in) thick. Using a pastry cutter, stamp out 12 rounds, rerolling the trimmings and cutting again; keep the remaining pastry aside. Use these rounds to line the base and sides of each muffin ‘hole’.

Fill each pie with 1 tablespoon of the ‘mincemeat’ – don’t overfill or it will bubble out during cooking. With the remaining pastry, roll out to a thickness of 3mm (⅛in) and using a shaped cutter (I like to use a heart or a star), cut out 12 shapes that will form your pie lids.

Place over the filling, pushing the edges of the lids down to meet the bottom pastry rim. Bake in a preheated oven for 10–15 minutes. Remove from the oven, leave to cool and transfer to a wire rack. Then, dust with some rice flour or agave powder and enjoy while still warm.

NUTRITIONAL NUGGET

Blueberries and cranberries are rich in iron, fibre and beta-carotene to boost your immunity and give you natural energy.

Recipe taken from Natasha Corrett's second book, Honestly Healthy for Life