Rustic Raw Mince (Fruit) Pies With Sake & Yuzu

Yeaterday I went for a beautiful long walk in the snow. On my walk I got to thinking how I could make raw mince pies. For those of you who are not sure what a mince pie is it’s basically shortcrust pastry with a filling of normally spiced fruits maybe with alcohol like brandy and fruit peel.

As soon as I got home I set to work on creating the pies and they turned out much better than I thought they would.

To make the crust I used 1/2 cup of coconut flour and 1/2 cup of almond flour. I placed this in my food processor with two large dates and pulsed this together. Then I added 6 tablespoons of melted coconut butter and 1 tablespoon of rice malt syrup ( you could use what ever sweetener you want) I started to process until the dough came together. I then tipped out the dough onto plastic wrap and wrapped it into a tight ball and pressed it all together.

I then placed a sheet of plastic wrap over my mince pie tray and started to press in the dough to make pastry cases. I did this as I wasn’t sure how the dough would roll but after making the stars for the  tops I think you could roll this and cut out the rounds with a pastry cutter. Anyway this way made for a rustic raw edged looking pie but I thought it was quite in keeping. I then placed the tray covered over into the freezer. With the remaining dough I cut out stars for the tops of the pies.

Now for the filling I tipped into a bowl 1/4 cup of raisins,1/3 cup of dried cranberries, three chopped dried soft figs,a scatter of flaked almonds,the juice of one clementine ( I basically cut the clementine in half an squeezed the juice out),a dash each of cinnamon,nutmeg and allspice,the zest of one small lemon,a tablespoon of candied chopped yuzu and a sake cup of sake. I then used the end of a rolling pin to squash all the fruit. It’s a good idea to make this in advance and let the fruit soak up all the juices.

After taking the pastry out the freezer you can then lift them out the plastic wrap and fill them with your filling for a totally raw pie.

However I placed mine in the oven for five mins just to slightly brown them . If you do this place them back in the freezer after for five mins because if they are warm they fall apart slightly.

I think they made a lovely alternative mince pie and this year I will be having these instead of the normal pastry ones I make. Nice with some vegan cream. You can warm them slightly as well before eating.