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Brandy and walnut mince pies with almond pastry

250g plain flour
50g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
150g unsalted butter, softened
2 egg yolks
About 2 tbsp (30ml) ice-cold water
75g ground almonds

Sift the flour, almonds, icing sugar and salt into a bowl. Break the butter into small pieces and rub this through the flour until it vanishes. Beat the yolks with the water and stir this into the flour. Mix to a very soft and smooth dough. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes before using as it needs time to firm up.

For every 100g bottled mincemeat, stir in 2 tsp (10ml) brandy, 25g chopped walnuts and the finely grated zest of half an orange. Mix well and leave for a few hours for the flavour to soak in.

Lightly butter and line deep muffin tins with two-thirds of the pastry rolled about 5mm thick. Spoon the filling into the cases just short of the top, then roll the remaining third of the dough to about 5mm thick. Cut discs slightly wider than the diameter of the cases, brush the underside edges with a little water, then pop them on and press to seal in the filling. Cut a clear hole in the top of each to let the steam escape, brush with a little milk and sprinkle with caster sugar. Heat the oven to 200C (180C fan-assisted) and bake for 25-30 minutes or until a rich golden brown, then remove and leave to cool for 5 minutes before easing the pies carefully from the tin and placing to cool on a wire rack.