By now your mincemeat (we made it on October 27, remember) will have matured, the flavour from the spices mellow and the fruit soft. The secret to deep-filled mince pies is to bake them at a high temperature and stop once the pastry is brown and the filling hot. Leave them to cool in the tin and they should twist out when barely warm. Fiddle with them while they're hot, and they'll fall apart. Makes about nine or 10.
200g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
75g caster sugar
100g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
75-100g full-fat cream cheese
50g ground almonds
1 egg yolk
500g mincemeat
Measure the flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl. Add the butter and rub it in with your fingers until no more lumps are seen, then do the same with the cream cheese, almonds and egg yolk until you have a smooth dough. Add a little milk only if it needs it to make a soft smooth dough. Chill the dough for 30 minutes then roll it out to about 0.5cm thick.
Butter the pockets of a muffin tray, cut 10cm pastry discs and press them evenly inside each pocket. Fill each about three-quarters full with mincemeat, then roll out the remaining pastry and cut 7cm discs for the tops. Brush the rim with a little water, press the disc on the top and pinch at the edges to seal. Cut a decent sized hole in the top of each for steam. Bake at 200C (180C fan-assisted)/400F/gas mark 6 for about 16-18 minutes, until golden.
· Go to danlepard.com/guardian for more baking tips.