“There’s not much you can do to improve on a classic mince pie: buttery pastry, sweet fruit filling- delicious. So why not try something new to serve it with. My ‘cheats’ blue cheese ice cream takes the stress out of making it from scratch so there’s no excuse not to dress up an old classic”
Ronnie Murray, Head Pastry Chef for Hix Restaurants
Mince pies with Castello Danish Blue Cheese ice cream
Takes 30 minutes to prepare, 12 minutes cooking time
Makes 12
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 225g cold butter, diced
- 350g plain flour
- 100g golden caster sugar
- 1 small egg
- Icing sugar, to dust
- Jar of traditional mincemeat
- Pinch of salt
For the ice cream:
- 200g Castello Danish Blue Cheese
- Good quality vanilla ice cream
How to:
- To make the pastry, rub 225g cold, diced butter into 350g plain flour, then mix in 100g golden caster sugar and a pinch of salt. Combine the pastry into a ball and knead it briefly
- Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Line your patty tin by pressing small walnut-sized balls of pastry into each hole and then spoon the mincemeat into the pies
- Take slightly smaller balls of pastry than before and pat them out between your hands to make round lids, big enough to cover the pies. Top the pies with their lids, pressing the edges gently together to seal. Bake for 12 minutes, until golden
- For the cheats blue cheese ice cream, put the Castello Danish Blue into the freezer for 3 hours until frozen. Put your shop bought ice cream into a mixing bowl and let it melt for 5 minutes. When soft and malleable, grate on the finest side of a cheese grater the blue cheese and start working it into the ice cream with a baking spatula until the cheese is running evenly through the vanilla ice cream
- Transfer the blue cheese ice cream into a freezer friendly dish or Tupperware box and refreeze over night
- Spoon on top of the mince pies just before serving
Dust with icing sugar and enjoy!
