So to kick off the first day, here’s my easy and quick recipe for gluten free mince pies with a crumble topping! Oh, and for those who don’t like mince pies, I’ve also included an ‘alternative’ mince pie but with an apple filling which is just as quick, easy and tasty as the the mince pie!

There’s nothing else that screams ‘IT’S CHRISTMAS!! ‘ to me than the mince pie. I’m not talking about any ordinary mince pie though, I’m talking about those amazing mince pies with a crumble/streusel topping!

Every year before Christmas [and obviously before my coeliac disease diagnosis] my mum would buy a pack of these amazing crumble topped mince pies from a bakery called Ainsleys, near to where we lived.

Sadly, the bakery has since shut down and become a bed/furniture shop since our economy went ‘tits up’, which is a real shame!

The mince pie was also part responsible for ruining my belief in Santa! Every Christmas eve, without fail, I would leave Santa one of those crumble topped mince pies and a tall glass of milk. So every Christmas day morning, I’d wake up to find he’d not only drank the milk I left him but also gobbled the mince pie like a real trooper! But this was all going to end in tears…

… When I went to pop the mince pie and milk on the little table by the window, my dad absent mindedly said “not another mince pie. I’ve had 3 today already can’t I have something different?”, which I replied with, “But daddy, this is for Santa not… *cogs turn in head* oh. My. God!” So that was the day I realised that Santa wasn’t real - thanks Dad!

And to bring some Christmas cheer to this sad and sombre story, I’ve found a pic of myself when I was a wee little nipper. As you can see by my big fat smile, that I was still very, very, very upset!

So if you too want to get all Christmasy and shed a little tear over my ‘heart rendering’ story then follow my super easy and quick gluten free mince pie/apple pie recipe below!

Ingredients:

 

For the crumble topping: 

1. 100g Gluten Free Plain Flour
2. 50g Butter [soft and cut into chunks]
3. 50g Sugar [I used brown]

Method:

 

1. Pre heat the oven to 190 °C
2. First make the crumble topping: in a bowl mix together the flour, butter and sugar until it forms ‘bread crumbs’ and put aside. 
3. On a clean work surface, dust with gluten free flour and roll out the short crust pastry until it’s quite thin [width of a penny] Be careful not to roll it out too thin as this may break the pastry! Once rolled, using either a biscuit cutter or the rim of a mug, cut out 12 circles. 
4. Place pastry circles on a cupcake tray, gently pressing down so the pastry takes the form of the hole  
5. Now add 1 teaspoon of either the apple sauce or mince meat [or both!] to each circle 
6. Add the crumble topping till it covers the mincemeat or apple sauce 
7. Carefully pop into the oven for 10/12 minutes
8. Once finished, gently take the cooked mince pies/apple pies out of the tray to cool down
9. Enjoy and marvel at your gluten free mince/ apple crumble topped mince pie!