I had another try at this over Christmas, tweaking the proportions and the method slightly, and managed to get a pastry that would roll out, although it's still very short and crumbly.
3oz/ 75g wholemeal flour
2oz/ 50g No1 baking mix
2 1/2 oz/ 65g butter or margarine
Cold water
Use the usual method; mix the dry ingredients, rub in the fat and work in enough water to bind into a firm lump.
Add the water slowly; once the mixture will hold together in a ball check if it will roll out without falling apart. If it's too dry it will crumble and fray into pieces before it's been rolled anywhere near thin enough. If that happens, crumble it up and add some more water and try again.
Try to avoid adding much flour to the rolling surface. The pastry may stick a little and need to be removed from the counter with the edge of a knife blade, but if you flour it heavily it will just get even drier and more crumbly. Bear in mind also that you'll probably need to re-roll trimmings several times, as it doesn't roll out particularly thin.
I know all of this man-handling of the pastry would not be acceptable with regular short-crust, but it worked okay with this recipe and the results weren't leathery at all (and made more-than-okay mince pies).
No-added-sugar mince pies
1 quantity of low-carb pastry, see above
1 small tart eating apple or 1/4 of a large cooking apple
About 3 tblsp commercial mincemeat - no-added-sugar if possible (Infinity Foods make one)
Roll out pastry and use to line the cups of a shallow greased patty tin (I have an ancient 9-pan one with patterns in the bottom, probably originally intended for madelaines but fine for small tartlets). Core and chop the apple leaving the skin on. Fill half each pastry case with mincemeat (approx 1 tsp per case) and then top-up with chopped apple. Re-roll the pastry trimmings again to get lids, wet these on the underside and stick down onto the bottom cases and the fruit filling; pierce a small vent in each one with the tip of a knife blade.
Bake at Gas 6/ 200C (180 in a fan oven) for 15 - 20 minutes or until just starting to brown on the edges. They'll probably bubble over as they cook, so remove from the patty tins as soon as they are out of the oven to prevent them sticking.
In the photograph, the thing on the left is what my family always call The Lump; the leftover pastry trimmings rolled round the leftover chopped apple bits and baked. Shame to waste them after all!
3oz/ 75g wholemeal flour
2oz/ 50g No1 baking mix
2 1/2 oz/ 65g butter or margarine
Cold water
Use the usual method; mix the dry ingredients, rub in the fat and work in enough water to bind into a firm lump.
Add the water slowly; once the mixture will hold together in a ball check if it will roll out without falling apart. If it's too dry it will crumble and fray into pieces before it's been rolled anywhere near thin enough. If that happens, crumble it up and add some more water and try again.
Try to avoid adding much flour to the rolling surface. The pastry may stick a little and need to be removed from the counter with the edge of a knife blade, but if you flour it heavily it will just get even drier and more crumbly. Bear in mind also that you'll probably need to re-roll trimmings several times, as it doesn't roll out particularly thin.
I know all of this man-handling of the pastry would not be acceptable with regular short-crust, but it worked okay with this recipe and the results weren't leathery at all (and made more-than-okay mince pies).
No-added-sugar mince pies
1 quantity of low-carb pastry, see above
1 small tart eating apple or 1/4 of a large cooking apple
About 3 tblsp commercial mincemeat - no-added-sugar if possible (Infinity Foods make one)
Roll out pastry and use to line the cups of a shallow greased patty tin (I have an ancient 9-pan one with patterns in the bottom, probably originally intended for madelaines but fine for small tartlets). Core and chop the apple leaving the skin on. Fill half each pastry case with mincemeat (approx 1 tsp per case) and then top-up with chopped apple. Re-roll the pastry trimmings again to get lids, wet these on the underside and stick down onto the bottom cases and the fruit filling; pierce a small vent in each one with the tip of a knife blade.
Bake at Gas 6/ 200C (180 in a fan oven) for 15 - 20 minutes or until just starting to brown on the edges. They'll probably bubble over as they cook, so remove from the patty tins as soon as they are out of the oven to prevent them sticking.
In the photograph, the thing on the left is what my family always call The Lump; the leftover pastry trimmings rolled round the leftover chopped apple bits and baked. Shame to waste them after all!
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