Gluten Free Fruit Mince Pies

A must for any Commonwealth Christmas! Original recipe by Jamie Oliver. I found I had to stretch the pastry very thin to make the 12 pies so next time i think I would use 1.5 of the recipe. Had more than enough fruit mix though. They were delicious!

Gluten Free Fruit Mince Pies

Ingredients

Pastry;
75 g rice flour
40 g tapioca , or gluten-free flour
40 g chickpea flour
70 g vegan butter , chilled, cubed
4 tbsp vegan sugar
1 vanilla pod , split, seeds scraped
1 lemon , or orange, the grated zest of

Filling;
1 banana , mashed
70 ml fresh orange juice
1 good pinch of grated nutmeg
1 good pinch of allspice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp golden syrup
170 g raisins
80 g dried apricots
80 g dried sour cherries
80 g dried cranberries
80 g dried blueberries
2 tbsp brandy , (optional)


Method

To make the fruit filling, pop all the ingredients into a bowl, mix well, and leave covered in the fridge overnight for the flavours to develop.
To make the pastry, mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, then use your fingers to rub in the butter to form breadcrumbs.
Mix in the vanilla seeds and lemon zest.
Add 2 tablespoons cold water to the mix, then quickly and gently work it into a dough.
Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Remove the pastry from the fridge.
Place a large sheet of greaseproof paper in front of you, put the chilled dough on top, place another sheet on top and thinly roll out the pastry (this will stop you needing any more flour).
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4, grease your pie tin well and take the fruit out of the fridge.
Cut out 12 pastry circles, big enough for your tin and 12 star lids (if you don’t have a star cutter, just make round lids).
Place a round in each of the pie moulds, before filling with the fruit and topping with a lid.

Brush with a little milk to help them colour.
Bake for 15–20 minutes, until golden.

Allow to cool before taking out of the tins. Once completely cooled, dust with icing sugar.