Mince pies are traditional British pies, dating back through the centuries. Nobody quite knows how it got to be the pie it is today. All I know is that I love the taste of them, so I decided to make them using gluten-free pastry and super healthy sweet mincemeat filling.

My version is a melt-in-the-mouth, healthy and delicious pastry that everyone loves. I keep testing them out on everyone who comes to my house and no matter what people normally eat, they are giving these a big thumbs up.

In this recipe I am using warming winter spices like ginger, cinnamon and cardamom to infuse the dried fruit with divine deliciousness!

12 pies

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 cup raisins

1 tsp lemon zest

1 medium lemon, juice

2 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp water

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp fresh ginger

Pastry:

3/4 cup rice flour

3/4 cup tapioca flour

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

4 tbsp coconut oil

4 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp ground coconut flour, to sprinkle over

Method:

Start by soaking the raisins in a bowl for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Mix all the filling ingredients together and allow to soak.

Once soaked, the raisins will be plumper as it should have absorbed most of the soak liquid. Pulse the mixture with a hand blender a few times or use a regular food processor to create a rustic sweet mince ‘mush’.

Make sure the coconut oil is warm and melted. You will need a shallow cupcake tin with 12 cupcake indents.

Mix all of the pastry ingredients together and use a spoon at first and then work with your hands. After a couple of minutes you should get a nice dough ball.

Sprinkle rice flour on your rolling surface and sprinkle a little rice flour on top of your dough.

Roll the pasty with a rolling pin and keep rolling until it is about 4mm thick. If the pastry starts falling slightly apart as it gets thinner, then just push it back together.

Cut out 12 circles with a cookie cutter and gently push each circle into the cupcake tin indents.

Roll the remaining pastry and cut out 12 small stars with it.

Share the filling mix between each pie and spread it fairly evenly. Put a star on top of each pie.

Bake in a preheated oven for about 20 minutes.

Once baked, allow to cool and serve. I sprinkled over a little coconut flour for that perfect mince pie effect, but it’s completely optional!