Chocolate & Chilli Mince Pies

These homemade mince pies put a twist on a classic, with a layer of chocolate ganache on top (made with Chilli Pepper Pete’s Dragon’s Blood Chilli Chocolate) and a sprinkling of Chilli Pepper Pete’s Aleppo Chilli Flakes. The addition of chocolate makes them fabulously luxurious, whilst the chilli kick stops it all becoming too sweet. The perfect winter warmer on a cold day!

Ingredients
50g Chilli Pepper Pete Dragon’s Blood Chilli Chocolate
50g plain milk chocolate
150ml cream
400 g mincemeat
Zest of 1 orange
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp Chilli Pepper Pete’s Aleppo Chilli Flakes
500g ready-made shortcrust pastry
Icing sugar for dusting

Makes 24

1. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan). Gently warm the cream on the hob in a small saucepan, until frothy and steaming, then take it off the heat and add both types of chocolate, broken up into pieces. Stir until the chocolate has completely melted and you have a smoothly combined mixture, then set aside to cool and thicken.

2. Mix the mincemeat with the orange zest, ground cinnamon and half a teaspoon of Chilli Pepper Pete’s Aleppo Chilli Flakes.

3. Roll out the pastry so it’s no more than 5mm thick, then cut out circles with a 10cm cutter and use each circle to line the holes in a bun tin. With the remaining pastry, cut out one star for each pie, and arrange the stars on a baking sheet.

4. Fill each pastry case almost to the top with a spoonful of mincemeat, pressed down with the back of the spoon. Place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the edges of the pastry are golden-brown. Meanwhile, you’ll need to bake the pastry stars too, but they won’t need as long – give them five minutes, or until the pastry is nicely crisp and golden.

5. Finally, top each pie with a spoonful of ganache, spreading it out neatly, and finish off each one with a pastry star, a pinch of Aleppo Chilli Flakes and a sprinkle of icing sugar.

DB CHILLI CHOCOLATE
ALEPPO FLAKES