Pear and spice and everything nice: Brea's Christmas pies!



Get festive with these cute and tasty little pies. They are so easy and quick to make. Just make sure you prepare the pastry at least one hour before you plan to bake. This recipe will make approximately 16 pies.

Ingredients

Pastry

315g (2.5 cups) plain flour
1 tspn. salt
1 tbsp. white sugar 
230g unsalted COLD butter (cubed)
0.25-0.5 cups of cold water 

Filling

2.5 cups of pear chopped into small cubes (you can use apple if you prefer)
1/4 cup white or caster sugar
2 tbsp. plain flour
1 tspn. vanilla extract
1/2-1 tbsp. mixed spice (depending on taste)
You can add some raisins/dried fruit to add more Christmas if you like!

Method

Pastry

1. Mix flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl.
2. Add butter to flour mix.
3. Use a knife to "cut" the butter through the flour until it is combined into a crumb-like consistency. Don't use your hands as this will heat up the butter too much.
4. Slowly add the water as you continue to mix the dough until it comes together.
5. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and let it sit in the fridge for at least one hour before use.

Filling

1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Fill each pie to the top.

Making the pies!

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius fan forced.
2. Roll the dough out until it's about 2mm thick. Make sure you leave about 1/4 of the dough aside to create your pie lids. 
3. Use a cup or circular cutter to cut circles to put directly into your mini-muffin tray.
4. Fill each pie to the top with the spicy pear mix.
5. Cut strips or make flat discs to place on top of the filling. 
6. Top pies with brown sugar and then put them in the oven. 
7. Bake for 15-25min or until the tops are browned and filling is bubbling through the top.
8. Enjoy immediately with cream or ice cream sprinkled with additional mixed spice. Yum!

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