Not Mince Pies
Adjusted from a recipe in the Telegraph for “Almondines”.
Makes 12 - in a 12 hole muffin tin.
Crumble:
- 4 oz / 120g plain flour
- 3 oz / 80g demerara sugar
- 3 oz / 80g unsalted butter
Fragipane:
- 3.5 oz / 100g unsalted butter
- 3.5 oz / 100g caster sugar
- 3.5 oz / 100g ground almonds
- 1 egg
- 2 oz / 50g cornflour
- 2 drops of almond extract
Filling:
- 2/3 jar mincemeat
- zest 1 orange
- 2 tbs brandy
- 1 tbs grated ginger
Alternate filling is damson or plum jam. For the mincemeat filling, just combine the ingredients, using the best possible quality mincemeat you can find (not easy), and leave for a couple of days for the best effect.
180C oven. Make up the crumble by mixing sugar and flour, then rubbing in the butter.
For the frangipane, beat the butter and sugar until white and fluffy, then fully beat in the egg and almond extract, then mix in the ground almonds and cornflour.
Put a spoonful of frangipane in each muffin hole and smooth it our to cover the bottom. Add a smallish spoonful of mincemeat/jam in the middle, then cover with the crumble. I find that a dessert spoon of frangipane, a teaspoon of mincemeat, and two dessert spoons of crumble come out exactly for my 12 hole muffin tin.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the crumble is lightly browned and the frangipane is clean to a cocktail stick.
This makes a relatively dense frangipane, to substitute for a pastry case; too light or sponge-like a frangipane wouldn’t be able to support the rest. Substituting regular flour for the cornflour is perfectly acceptable.