December Bloggerations Day 8 - I Spy Mince Pies

Hello there, Wilbear here with you today. The other bears have given me some helpful advice, apparently, as a bear ages, the bear brain shrinks and becomes forgetful. They said, out of concern for me, that the way to prevent this from happening is to practise a skill. Baking is apparently the best skill to carry out, in order to avoid the onset of squishy bear brain! Podgy told me he read this in Bear Medical Matters Monthly, so it must be true.

Not one to ignore medical advice, I set to making some mince pies. I assembled the trusty mixer.



Then I gathered my ingredients, these consisted of

175g plain flour
A pinch of salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
115g unsalted butter, chilled and diced
I medium free range egg yolk mixed with 2 tbsp ice cold water
A jar of mincemeat

First, I added the flour, salt and sugar to the mixer, and pulsed it a couple of times to combine the ingredients.


I then added my diced butter, and processed this until the mix looked like fine breadcrumbs.


Next, I added the yolky-water mix whilst the machine was running, and processed it until the dough came together, to look like this.


I wrapped it in cling-film.


After chilling the pastry in the fridge for 20 minutes, I began rolling it out. Goodness, this is hard work on these aged arms!


My next step was to cut circles with my pastry cutters, I used the largest cutter for the bottoms of the pies, and the medium cutter for the lids.


Make sure you have an equal amount of each, unless of course you like tarts rather than pies. Bears love pastry so I made lids for all of mine,





Spoon about a tablespoon of mincemeat into the pies for a stuffed finish, or a teaspoon full for a less filling pie. I was feeding bears so you can guess which spoon I selected!!!


Add the lids, and if you remembered to reserve the egg white, whisk this and spread it over the pastry tops, with a sprinkling of sugar over, for a lovely crunchy finish to your pies.


Make sure you always wear paw protectors when dealing with hot ovens.


The pies should be cooked at 200 c for about 20 minutes, until golden and delicious looking.


Serve your pies to hungry bears, and congratulate yourself on staving off bear dementia for another day. What kind loving bears I live with to think of my sanity. Don't you think?

With love from the bears.