INGREDIENTS
THE CRUST
20 Medjool Dates
400g (1.5 heaping cups) of Ground Almonds
6 Tbsp of Coconut Oil
3 Tsp Cinnamon (this will make the pastry slightly darker in colour so it can be omitted)
3 Tbsp Water
Flour for rolling the crust with.
THE FILLING
1 cup Sultanas
1/4 cup blanched Almonds/raw Almonds
1 cup of chopped Dates
1 Bramley cooking Apple
1/2 cup of chopped Apricots
1.5 Tsp raw Vanilla Powder/ 1 Tbsp of Vanilla Essence
1 Tbsp Linseed
3 Tbsp of Agave Nectar (or Maple Syrup)
1-2 Tsp of Mixed Spice
1 Tsp of Cinnamon
Zest of 1 large Orange
1/3 cup of Water
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
Begin by peeling and chopping the apple into very small pieces, chopping all the dried fruit, then placing everything into a saucepan and stirring it all together.
Add an additional 5 Tbsp of water and let the mince simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the apples are soft and could be cut in half with a spoon. Making sure to check on it half way to stir so it doesn’t stick
While the mince is cooking we can make the deliciously smooth amazing crust. Pit the fresh medjool dates and melt the coconut oil either in a pan or in the microwave until it has completely melted and is in a liquid form.
Then place all the crust ingredients in a blender and blend, blend, blend baby! until it is as smooth as possible and there are no chunks of dates and it is sticking together.
Then sprinkle flour over a surface or chopping board and roll the mix out as evenly as you can by rolling in different directions and with even pressure until its is about 0.5 cm thick
Using a large circular shape cutter (the larger the cutter the deeper and bigger the mince pie will be), and place the circles you have just created into a muffin tray (you can grease these with a little bit of oil if you are not using a non stick tray).
Then place the tray of crusts in the oven for 8 minutes, until they start to become a little bit more crispy on the outside or golden brown.
Once the mince has cooked you can assemble the mince pies by putting approximately two big teaspoons of the mince into each pie.
Using the remaining pastry roll it out again in a similar manner and thickness to before, spreading some more flour if it begins to become tacky. Using any shape cutter you’d like to cut enough shapes to place on top of the pies.
Bake the pies until they begin to turn a beautiful golden colour and the pastry is crisping off a little bit.
NOTES
These are so amazing that everyone will LOVE them! The mixture should make around 12 pies but you can easily make more! Go get your bake on Goddess!
