This is the first time I’ve made pastry with coconut oil and it is now my favourite shortcrust pastry ever! It’s so crumbly and moreish. And surprisingly easier to roll out than I thought. These mince pies only have a little bit of sugar in the pastry. The filling is sweetened with dates so technically they are not bad for you! I use a muffin tin to make mince pies as I prefer them deep filled with lots of pastry and filling – yum!

Ingredients – makes 12

For Pastry

500g   Plain flour

250g   Coconut oil

2 tbsp Caster Sugar

100ml Cold water

Pinch of salt

For Mincemeat

240g   Raisins

240g   Currants

120g   Sultanas

125g   Dates

60g     Flaked Almonds

2          Cox apples

1tsp    Mixed spice

½ tsp  Cinnamon

1          Lemon (all of zest and ½ of juice)

Method – Oven 180C

1. Make the pastry by putting the flour, sugar and coconut oil into a processer and pulsing a few times until it looks like breadcrumbs. Slowly add the water and pulse until it starts coming together. Empty out onto a work surface and knead a little until it all comes together and there are no crumbs left. Wrap in clingfilm and let rest at room temp for 30 minutes (not in fridge!).
2. Make the mincemeat – firstly soak the dates in boiling water for 10 minutes. Whilst they are soaking put the raisins, currants, sultanas, almonds, lemon zest and juice and spices into a big bowl.
3. Peel and core the apples and grate them, either in the processer or by hand and add to the bowl. No need to clean processer out, put the soaked drained dates into the processer with about half the mince pie filling and process until it turns mushy. Add it to the remaining mince pie filling and use your hands to mix it all together.
4. Roll out the pastry and cut 12 circles out then line a muffin tin. Fill each pastry case with about a tablespoon of mixture then top with a pastry star.
5. Brush with some plant milk and sprinkle some sugar on top, then bake for 15-20 minutes.