Mincemeat pie, also called minced pie or Christmas pie, dates all the way back to medieval England. The original recipe contained dried fruit, nuts and beef or venison all baked in a pie dough. The flaky crust was made from suet, which is the fat taken from around the kidneys of a cow or sheep. Nowadays, the up-to-date or modern recipes for mincemeat pies (thankfully) use vegetable shortening in place of the suet in the dough. Also, in many of the newer recipes the filling does not contain any meat, making this an easy dessert to convert into a completely plant-based dish with a vegan pie dough. The Christmas Crock-Pot Chutney can be used as the filling as it has many of the same flavors found in a traditional mincemeat. I top the pies with a little chopped pecans to give more texture and flavor.
Yields 6 mini pies
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2 (9-inch) pie doughs
6 (3-inch) mini pie tins
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1 ½ cups Christmas Crock-Pot Chutney
½ cup chopped toasted pecans
or walnuts
- Heat the oven to 350 F. Roll out the pie dough to ¼-inch thickness and cut into 4-inch circles.
- Press the pie dough into the mini pie tins and prick each with a fork to prevent the dough from puffing up as it bakes. Bake in the mini pie shells in the warmed oven for 4 to 6 minutes.
- Remove the mini pie shells from the oven. Divide the chutney between the 6 pie shells and top each with a little of the chopped nuts.
- Place the mini mincemeat pies back into the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden and the filling is bubbling along the edges.
- Remove the mini pies from the oven and allow them to cool for 10 minutes. Carefully remove the mini pies out of the tins and place them on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Before serving, dust the tops of the pies with a little powdered sugar if desired.
This article was originally published in the December 2023 issue of 225 magazine.