Plant-Based Mince Pies

Plant-Based Mince Pies

Mince pies are one of those things we look forward to all year, and honestly, these plant-based ones might be our favourite thing we've ever made at Christmas. The homemade mincemeat is the real star here, packed with currants, raisins, sultanas, blueberries, apple, and toasted pecans, all warmed through with clementine zest, lemon juice, and those cosy festive spices. The shortcrust pastry is buttery and crumbly in all the right ways, and the smell when these come out of the oven is absolutely incredible. Trust us on this one, once you've made your own mincemeat from scratch you'll never go back to the jar stuff.

Cook: 65 min
Serves 12

Before You Start

  • 12-hole muffin tin greased
  • Baking tray
  • Large pan
  • Rolling pin
  • Large fluted pastry cutter
  • Small fluted pastry cutter
  • Mixing bowl
  • Preheat oven to 180°C
  • Mincemeat cooled to room temperature before assembly

Ingredients

  • 4 tbsp maple syrup
  • 50g currants
  • 50g flame Raisins
  • 50g sultanas
  • 50g dried blueberries
  • 1 apple
  • 60g plant-based shortening (aka Trex)
  • 50g muscovado sugar
  • 50g pecans
  • ½ tsp cinnamon
  • ½ tsp mixed spice
  • 1 clementine - zest & juice
  • 1 large lemon - zest & juice
  • ½ tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 75ml rum
  • Pinch of salt
  • plain flour to dust
  • 2 x 500g block of plant-based shortcrust pastry
  • 3 tbsp maple syrup
  • 2 clementines - zest only

Method

1

Prepare the mincemeat ingredients 

  • Peel, core and cut the apple into 1cm chunks
  • Roughly chop the pecans
  • Zest and juice the clementine and the lemon
2

Make the mincemeat

  • Put the pecans on a baking tray and roast for 5 minutes
  • Put the currants, raisins, sultanas, blueberries, apple, shortening, maple syrup, muscovado sugar and pecans in a pan
  • Put the pan on the stove over a medium heat and stir for 5-7 minutes
  • Add the cinnamon, mixed spice, clementine zest, lemon zest and stir for 2 minutes
  • Add the clementine juice, lemon juice, vanilla bean paste, salt and rum to the pan and stir to combine
  • Reduce the heat and leave the mincemeat to simmer for 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent catching
  • Take the pan off the heat and allow the mincemeat to cool to room temperature
  • It will thicken and change texture as it cools
3

Prepare the pastry 

  • Flour a clean surface
  • Put the pastry block on the work surface and roll it out so the pastry is ½ cm thick
  • Cut 12 larger circles out of the rolled pastry and push the pastry circles into the greased muffin tin holes. Re roll the pastry as needed
  • Roll the second pastry block and cut 12 more circles, this time with a smaller fluted cutter. These will be the lids
4

Build the mince pies

  • Fill each pastry-lined muffin tin hole with the mincemeat
  • Top with a pastry lid and gently press the edges
  • Use a knife to make a cross in the middle of the pies to let the steam out
  • Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden
5

Make the glaze 

  • Mix the maple syrup and clementine zest together in a bowl
  • When the pies are hot out of the oven, glaze them with the maple and clementine for a final flavour punch and a nice shine

Tips & Variations

  • Make the mincemeat ahead: The mincemeat actually gets better as it sits, so we'd really recommend making it a day or two before you need it. The flavours deepen and the whole thing becomes even more gorgeous.
  • Get the pastry cold: We find chilling the pastry dough for at least 30 minutes before rolling makes it so much easier to work with and gives you that perfect crumbly texture in the finished pie.
  • Top them your way: We love a classic pastry lid, but these also look brilliant with a little star or snowflake cut-out on top. It lets the filling peek through and they look properly festive with barely any extra effort.

Why This Works

The trick here is toasting the pecans before they go into the mincemeat. It only takes five minutes but it adds this deep, nutty warmth that makes the whole filling taste way more complex. The combination of three different dried fruits with fresh apple keeps things balanced, jammy but not sickly sweet, and the clementine zest lifts everything so it tastes bright and festive rather than heavy.