Finishing it up

Well hello there!! Today I'm going to give you a little post-Christmas recipe to use up some of that mincemeat you've got leftover in the fridge. What do you mean you don't have any left because you scoffed mincepies down your throat for 2 weeks non-stop?!! Well for those without a ravenous family or who made enough to feed an army, here's a little something to warm your January cockles.

Ingredients

• 400g mincemeat
• a couple of tablespoons of booze, I used apricot brandy (which I'd used to make the mincemeat)
• zest of an orange
• 375g puff pastry
• one medium bramley apple, peeled, cored and chopped finely
• one egg
• a tablespoon of granulated sugar mixed with 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Method

• Mix the mincemeat, the zest, the apple and the booze in a bowl.
• Split your pastry in half and roll out two rectangles about 15x45cm big.
• Place one of the rectangles on a baking tray and place the mincemeat mix on top, leaving a good 2cm margin of pastry.
• Take the other pastry rectangle, roll it out a little bigger. Fold it in half and make slits about 3cm apart, 3cm from the folded edge.
• Back to the baking tray. Brush the pastry left showing with a little water. Place the slit pastry on top (open it up).
• Crimp the edges. Brush the whole thing with beaten egg, then sprinkle the sugar-cinnamon mix on top.
• Bake in the oven at 200degrees C for 30min.

(adapted from a James Martin recipe found in Desserts)

Enjoy as it is, or with a little bit of cream/ custard/ ice cream. It's delicious and really not all that bad for those January hips. Hey, it's still winter so we need a little comfort food right?!