Caffè Latte Mince Pies
What Christmas is complete without a few mince pies to nibble on in the evening? These ones have a slight twist with the addition of a hint of deep coffee flavour.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp ground chia or flaxseeds + 4 tbsp water
- 100g (3.5 oz) Caffe Latte Oats, or regular oats + 1 tsp ground coffee
- 50g (1.7 oz) ground almonds
- 60g (2 oz) spelt/buckwheat/plain flour
- A pinch of salt
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil or vegan butter/margarine (plus extra for greasing)
- 3 tbsp plant-based milk
For the filling:
- 200g (7 oz) mixed dried fruits, chopped small if needed
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp coffee or espresso powder
- 75ml (2.5 fl oz) water
- 10g (0.3 oz) ground almonds
Method
- Make the filling: add the mixed dried fruits, vanilla, cinnamon, mixed spice, coffee/espresso and water to a saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer over a gentle heat with a lid on for 10 minutes until plump and juicy. Stir in the ground almonds. Leave to one side.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C fan/180°C/355°F/Gas 4 and grease 12-15 small cupcake holes with coconut oil or vegan butter/margarine.
- Make the pastry: stir together the ground chia or flaxseeds and water and leave to one side to form a gel. Blitz the oats (and coffee, if using) to a fine flour and add to a bowl with the ground almonds, flour and salt. Stir in the melted coconut oil or vegan butter/margarine, plant-based milk and chia seed gel. Bring to a dough.
- Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to ½ cm thick. Cut out 12 bases and 12 star or regular tops, you may need to re-roll the scraps of pastry and continue to make up to 15 pies.
- Gently place each round base into the greased cupcake holes, fill with 1 heaped teaspoon of mincemeat and press on the star top. Brush the tops lightly with melted coconut oil/vegan butter/margarine and bake for 18-20 minutes, until golden brown and crisping on top.
- Allow to cool and lift gently out of the tins. Serve dusted with icing sugar.
Recipe by Amy Lanza, Nourishing Amy with Great Porridge Co, nourishingamy.com
