Mince pies are one of my favourite treats during the festive period. They’re deliciously fruity, packed with spices and fruits and usually include a buttery pastry. However, this year, I haven’t been that impressed with the supermarkets’ offerings. I’ve found that a lot of the mince pies haven’t been filled properly and have either been too sweet or too boozy. I’m not the best baker, so the prospect of making mince pies from scratch was a bit intimidating.
Instead, I decided to make Amy Sheppard’s mince pie cookie cake. I stumbled upon the recipe on Instagram while researching easy Christmas dessert recipes. Amy, who has 1.1 million followers on Instagram, is the author of the cookbook, The Sunday Times bestseller, Easy 10.
The recipe took 10 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to bake in the oven, yielding a delicious pudding in just half an hour. The overall result was buttery, lightly spiced and packed with fruit.
Amy said of the recipe on Instagram: “Every year I say that I’m going to make my own mince pies. I’m going to make pastry and cook up some homemade mincemeat. It never happens – or it very rarely happens.
“If you want all of the joy of Christmas baking, without spending hours doing it, you have got to try this. It’s light and buttery, with that lovely cookie gooeyness, but it has all the feels of a mince pie.
“It takes less than 10 minutes to get this in the oven. Eat it when it’s still a little bit warm with a scoop of ice cream, and you will be so happy that you did!”
