Yelvertoft mum's recipe for mouth-watering no fuss mince pies to fill your home with Christmas joy

Milly lives with her husband and two boys on a livestock and arable farm.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… can you hear me breaking into song?! I just love the festive period. For me, Christmas is about food and family and I love getting busy in the kitchen, cooking up yummy treats and winter warmers.

The children are started to get very excited and now understand about Father Christmas and the importance of being good so they don’t end up on the naughty list!

As the weather hasn’t been great, the children are inside a lot more and I’ve been involving them in my festive baking which is a great way to spend time together. The kitchen ends up in a real mess but we have lots of giggles and make some tasty things.

Mince pies are a quick no-fuss festive bake. Have you thought about using a packet of ready-rolled pastry? It’s a great way to save time and faff and the children can really get involved with cutting out shapes and filling the pies with mincemeat.

Ingredients

A packet of ready rolled pastry (sweet, shortcrust or puff)

A jar of mincemeat (I’ve used a jar of Aldi salted caramel mincemeat)

1 egg

A sprinkle of sugar

Method

Roll the pastry out and cut 12 circles as bases. Place in a muffin tray.

Spoon in 1 teaspoon of the mincemeat into each base

Cut out 12 stars with the remaining pastry and seal on top of the mincemeat

Brush with egg

Sprinkle with some sugar

Place in the oven at 200c for 20-25 minutes until golden brown

Another easy bake is homemade sausage rolls.

Again you will need a packet of ready rolled pastry, puff of shortcrust pastry is fine. The children will enjoy squeezing out the sausage meat and making a sausage snake

Ingredients

A packet of ready rolled pastry (shortcrust or puff)

6 sausages (farmhouse/traditional flavour) I buy mine from Joseph Morris Butchers or Elliotts Farm Shop

Some grated parmesan cheese

Sprinkle of sesame seeds

1 egg

Method

Roll out your pastry onto a baking tray

Score the pastry lengthways so you have two long pieces

Squeeze all the sausage meat into a bowl. At this stage you can add things to the sausage meat like herbs, seasoning, but I choose to leave as they are

Form a long sausage along the middle of each section of pastry. You should end up with two long sausages

Brush the edge of the pastry with egg

Fold the pastry over the sausage meat and press to seal

Use a fork to make prints around the sausage roll.

Brush all over with egg and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese and sesame seeds

Score the sausage rolls into bite size pieces to allow the meat to cook evenly.

Place in a pre heated oven at 200c for 25 minutes. Once the sausage rolls start to brown, cover in some foil and allow to cook further for 20 minutes to ensure the meat is cooked through

Serve warm or keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

These don’t hang around for long in our house, they get gobbled up straight away!!

So talking about gobbling things up, have you ordered your Christmas meat yet? We are spoilt for choice locally with a range of independent producers rearing turkeys, geese, beef and pork.

We are having a turkey crown from Joseph Morris Butchers and a joint of beef from Noborough Lodge Farm shop – yum! I really hope that you can support a local business too this Christmas which will help to sustain our rural communities as well as reducing food miles and your carbon footprint.

And if you want to know where you can buy Northamptonshire made produce, take a look at the Made in Northamptonshire website: https://madeinnorthamptonshire.org/ which showcases amazing food and drinks businesses from across the county. There is something for everyone from I’m Real Ice cream to Warner’s Gin.

If I’ve inspired you to get cooking or support a local food producer, please do let me know by getting in touch on the No Fuss Meals for Busy Parents page.

I’d like to wish you a wonderful Christmas, happy baking and a prosperous 2022