A productive day

mum's work are having a buffet style christmas lunch tomorrow so i offered to make some bits for her to take in. she'd already bought some mini quiches (although half of those went with david to a railway meeting as a last minute thought), so i thought i'd do some "healthier" mince pies. healthier in the sense that i used filo pastry instead of short crust, and didn't use butter to stick the filo layers together. so there are now 32 mince pies (although some are parcels, as i was experimenting a bit) and then i used the rest of the filo by inventing some filo tiramisu baskets.

Filo Mince Pies

• pre-heat oven to 200 degrees C
• cut sheets of filo into squares just bigger than the size of a muffin/fairy cake tin. layer 4 squares at different angles, brushing with egg white (or milk or melted butter if feeling indulgent), in between each layer, and place in patty tins to make baskets.
• place a teaspoon of mincemeat in each basket and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
• meanwhile mix icing sugar and brandy to create a smooth icing and drizzle over mince pie tarts.
• then dust with icing sugar.
  

this was my end result:

The Tiramisu Tarts were quite an experiment, i wasn't sure whether to have the mascarpone fresh or baked, or how to get the coffee in there. so in the end this seemed to be the best method:

Tiramisu Tarts

• preheat oven to 180 Degrees C
• layer 4 squares filo (just bigger than holes of patty tin in size) at different angles and use to line patty tins
• mix mascarpone with vanilla pod seeds and masarla and a little icing sugar (all done to taste, no measurements)
• mix coffee granules with hot water to create a smooth paste.
• spread a little of the paste into the bottom of the uncooked filo baskets
• place a teaspoon of the mascarpone mixture in the baskets
• bake in the oven for about 15 mins until the filo is golden and the mascarpone had a slight golden crust.
• remove from oven and dust with cocoa powder.

this is what the end result looked like:

so all in all today, 32 mince pie tarts and 9 tiramisu tarts:

quite a productive day all in all as well as having to go out to get some more mincemeat (despite mum assuring me one jar would be enough!), and coming home with a pair of tracksuit bottoms, a tube of bostik glue, a 4m length of christmas ribbon, and a jar of mincemeat!