Mince pie cookies, a playful take on the classics.

Mince pies are undoubtedly a Christmas staple; the taste, the aroma and the ritual all make for one of the most traditional seasonal bakes that has truly stood the test of time. There are 12 days of Christmas after all though, so in my mind this leaves plenty of room for a little creative tinkering and this is where my mince pie shortbread sandwich cookies come in. These represent everything that is gorgeous about the original, I’ve just swapped out the shortcrust for shortbread to make an elegant treat for the festivities. 

These are really simple to make, only a handful of ingredients, have a go and let me know what you think. 

Ingredients for mince pie cookies

150g plain flour 

100g unsalted butter

50g caster sugar

pinch of salt

Jar of mincemeat

Icing sugar (for decoration)

Makes approx 6-8 sandwich cookies (you can easily double the recipe if you are cooking for a crowd)

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C or GM3.

Using a food mixer, combine the butter and sugar together until the mixture is light, pale and fluffy. 

Then gradually add in the sifted flour and pinch of salt to the mixture. With the mixer on low, gently mix in the flour until it just begins to clump together. You do not want to overmix the dough here, this will make the shortbread more like a biscuit and you want it to be short and crumbly when it cooks and just melt in the mouth. 

Gently flour a worktop and rolling pin and roll out the dough to about ¼ inch thick and cut out rounds of dough. Make sure to cut out an even number as they will be sandwiched together at the end. 

For half of the circles, use a smaller cutter to cut a smaller circle in the middle of the dough, so that you will be able to see the mincemeat poking through later. 

Transfer all of the cut pieces of dough to a baking tray and place in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to chill down before cooking. 

Cook in the middle of the oven for about 15 minutes until pale and lightly golden brown around the edges. 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Take each shortbread base and smooth out approx 1-2 tsp of mincemeat to the middle of the cookie. 

Before sandwiching the cookies, take the shortbread tops and lightly dust all of them with icing sugar. Then gently take them by the sides and sandwich down on the shortbread bases filled with the mincemeat. 

These will keep in an airtight tin for a few days but are best eaten on the day that they are made. 

Fancy making your own mincemeat? Here’s a lovely recipe from Mary Berry that I’ve made a few times.

Looking for other festive bakes? Why not try my Mince pie muffins or my Reindeer Christmas chocolates, they’re both simple to make and really impressive when friends and family come round.

Looking for some festive gift ideas? Check out my Christmas gift box – give someone a cosy night in this festive season with our chocolate gift experience or my Chocolate gift ideas – EmmaBakes selection box – perfect postal pressies that everyone will love.