With a juicy fruit mince filling and buttery flaky pie crust, this vegan mince pie recipe makes the ultimate finger food for the holidays.
Serve them warm with a dollop of non-dairy cream or vanilla ice cream, or just enjoy them as they are, either way, they're irresistibly delicious.
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📖 Recipe Overview
- Flavorful - Buttery pastry and a sweet caramelized boozy fruity filling. This post also contains my homemade vegan mincemeat recipe, so no need to try and track down the shop-bought stuff.
- Incredible Texture - A crisp, flaky pastry shell with crystalized sugar on top and a gooey sticky filling.
- Easy To Make - These vegan mince pies are pretty easy to make. The mince filling and pastry are prepared on day 1 and baked on the second day, so a little patience is needed but they are so worth it!
- Festive - Perfect for the holidays, Christmas, and Thanksgiving. They also make lovely homemade gifts for friends, family, and neighbors.
- Free-From - Eggless, dairy-free, and made without suet.
📚 Do Mince Pies Have Meat?
Traditional mince pies date back as far as medieval times, and they did in fact contain some form of meat in them, hence the name "mincemeat".
Nowadays, most standard mince pie recipes are made without meat but do contain some form of suet which is animal fat.
This can make it tricky to find vegan let alone vegetarian mince pies.
For more classic British Christmas desserts check out my vegan sticky toffee pudding, and chocolate biscuit cake.
🧾 Ingredients Needed
Here's everything you need to make this vegan mince pie recipe from scratch:
Ingredient Notes
- Vegan butter. This gives a rich and thick consistency to the mince filling. As these are made without vegetarian suet, the butter acts as our binder.
- Dried fruits. The recipe calls for raisins, sultanas, and candied orange peel but you can mix and match with other dried fruits like golden raisins, currants, mixed peel, and/or cranberries.
- Flaked almonds. These add flavor and texture. If you have a nut allergy you can leave them out and replace them with additional dried fruit.
- Green apple. Preferably a sour type like Granny Smith.
- Spices. Ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves give them a delicious festive flavor.
- Vegan Brandy. You can also go for vegan port or whiskey, or if you want to make vegan mince pies without alcohol just use juice like apple or cranberry instead.
And as we're making these mince pies without eggs, some non-dairy milk acts as a simple vegan swap for eggwash.
🥣 How To Make Vegan Mince Pies
Find the complete list of ingredients, quantities, and instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
Vegan Mincemeat and Pie Crust (Day 1)
Mince pie filling is essentially a caramel sauce reduction with dried and fresh fruits and a good glug of brandy of course!
You can make the filling a few days in advance but as with the pie crust, I highly recommend making it at least one day ahead of baking to give the flavors a chance to develop.
The reason why I recommend making the pie crust a day ahead is that chilling it in the fridge creates a flakier result when baked.
Step 1: Mix together all of the dried fruits, apple chunks, flaked almonds, brown sugar, orange juice, and zest in a large mixing bowl. Let those mingle together for an hour.
Step 2: Simmer the mincemeat filling and vegan butter for 30-40 minutes until thickened and most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the brandy and mix well to combine, and chill until ready to use (1-3 days).
Assemble and Bake the Pies (Day 2)
Step 3: Roll out ⅔ of the chilled dough to 3mm (⅛ of an inch) in height and cut out 15 bases.
Step 4: Press them carefully into the muffin pans. Use a spoon or your fingers to press the sides into the tin so that they are slightly higher than the pan.
Step 5: Fill the pies with around 1.5 tablespoons of mincemeat filling to each pie. Brush the edge of each pie with non-dairy milk to help seal on the tops.
Step 6: Roll out the remaining dough cut out 15 lids (3"/7cm) and carefully sit them on top of each pie, pressing down the edges to seal them. Cut a cross on top of each pie, glaze with non-dairy milk, and sprinkle with sugar before baking.
📝 Recipe Tips
Don't overfill your mince pies. Only fill them around ¾-way full. This helps prevent the filling from bubbling out through the top of the pastry during baking.
If you are stuck for time and literally cannot wait to make these, you can prepare the filling and crust on the day of baking. The flavors just won't be as well balanced in the filling, and the crust won't be as flaky.
Most brandy like Courvoisier and Hennessey is vegan but it's best to check if you're unsure. (ref. ChooseVeganism.Org)
To make mince pies with crumble topping simply divide the pie crust between 22-24 bases and top them with streusel topping from my pumpkin crumble pie recipe!
💬 FAQs
Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or at room temperature for up to 2 days.
You can freeze them in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Defrost them in the fridge or warm them in the oven before serving.
Yes, you can swap out the brandy for apple juice, orange juice, or cranberry juice.
🎄 More Vegan Christmas Recipes
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Description
Ingredients
- 1 batch vegan pie crust
- 150 g (1 ⅖ cup) granny smith apple , approx 1 large apple
- 75 ml (⅓ cup) juice and rind from an orange, freshly squeezed
- 100 g (⅔ cup) sultanas, or golden raisins
- 100 g (⅔ cup) raisins, or currants
- 70 g (½ cup) candied orange peel, or candied mixed peel
- 40 g (¼ cup) flaked almonds, omit for nut-free option
- 100 g (½ cup) light brown sugar, I use light muscovado
- 100 g (½ cup) dark brown sugar, I use dark muscovado
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¾ teaspoon ground cloves
- 100 g (½ cup) vegan butter
- 100 ml (⅖ cup) brandy, or vegan port or whiskey, *see notes
- 50 ml (⅕ cup) non-dairy milk
- granulated sugar, for garnish
Instructions
- I strongly recommend making the pie crust and mincemeat filling in advance (1-3 days) and keeping them in the fridge until the day of baking for the best results. This will ensure the flakiest pastry and the most flavorful vegan mincemeat filling.
- Make the pie crust: Prepare a batch of this pie crust recipe through to step 3, and shape it into a large disc. Wrap the pastry disc in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge to chill for at least an hour (overnight or up to 3 days).
- Prepare the fruits: Core the apple and chop it into small cubes. Zest and squeeze the orange.
- Make the vegan mincemeat filling: To a large bowl, add the chopped apple, orange juice and zest, sultanas, raisins, candied orange peel, flaked almonds, light and dark brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. Mix well with a spatula until all the ingredients are coated in the juices. Cover and set aside for an hour.
- Add the vegan butter to a medium-large pot and pour the mincemeat filling on top of it. Place over medium heat until simmering gently and stir to combine all the ingredients.Cook on a gentle simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring often, until most of the liquid has evaporated and the apples are soft. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool slightly for 15 minutes.Next, stir in the brandy and mix well to combine. Cover the pot with the lid or transfer the mincemeat to a sealed container and refrigerate for 1-3 days until ready to use.
- Prepare to bake: Preheat your oven to 200°C (392°F).Grease 2 muffin pans with some vegan butter - you may need to bake them in batches depending on how many pans you have. You can also use disposable tin foil cups and arrange them on a baking sheet.
- Roll the dough: Separate ⅓ of the dough and set aside for the lids. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the other ⅔ of the dough to 3mm (⅛ of an inch) in height.Using a fluted or round cutter (4"/10cm) cut out 15 bases and carefully press them into the muffin pans. Use your fingers to press the sides into the tin so that they are slightly higher than the pan.
- Assemble the pies: Add around 1.5 tablespoons of mincemeat filling to each pie, making sure that the filling does not come all the way to the top. Brush the edge of the pies with some non-dairy milk.Roll out the remaining dough and cut out 15 lids (3"/7cm) and carefully sit them on top of each pie. Use your fingers to press the edges down to seal the pies. Cut a cross on top of each pie to allow air out whilst baking, glaze the tops with more non-dairy milk, and generously sprinkle with granulated sugar.
- Bake: For 20-25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Allow them to come to room temperature before carefully removing them from the pan, use a knife to gently loosen the edges if needed.
- Storage: Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days, or at room temperature for up to 2 days. You can freeze them in a sealed container for up to 3 months. Simply defrost them in the fridge or warm them in the oven before serving.
Notes
- Most brandy like Courvoisier and Hennessey is vegan but it's best to check if you're unsure. (ref. ChooseVeganism.Org)
- For alcohol-free use apple juice, orange juice, or cranberry juice instead of brandy.
Nutrition
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