Lighter filo mince pies
Makes: 12
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
Recipe photograph by Tara Fisher
Lighter filo mince pies
Made with apple and less dried fruit than in classic recipes, this healthier mincemeat is lower in sugar. Filo pastry is lower in fat than shortcrust or puff, so reduces the fat and calories too
Makes: 12
Prep time: 35 minsTotal time: 
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Nutritional information (per serving)
Calories
160Kcal
Fat
4gr
Saturates
1gr
Carbs
26gr
Sugars
14gr
Fibre
2gr
Protein
3gr
Salt
0.3gr
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Tamsin Burnett-Hall
Tamsin learned the tricks of the trade from cookery legend Delia Smith. A trusted recipe writer for the magazine for over 25 years, she is now our Senior Food Producer, overseeing testing and editing to ensure that every recipe tastes great, is straightforward to follow and works without fail. In her home kitchen, Tamsin creates fuss-free flavour-packed food for friends and family, with baking being her ultimate form of comfort cooking
See more of Tamsin Burnett-Hall’s recipes
Ingredients
- 1 x 270g pack large filo pastry sheets
- zest of ½ and juice of 1 medium orange
- 150g mixed dried fruit
- 400g peeled, cored and chopped Bramley apples (4-5 small Bramleys)
- ½ tsp ground mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- a pinch of ground cloves, optional
- 25g light brown sugar
- 50g dairy-free lower fat spread, melted
- 25g flaked almonds
- icing sugar to dust, optional
Step by step
Get ahead
Make up to end of step 5 and freeze for up to 1 month. Bake for 35-40 mins from frozen. Best eaten on the day of baking.
- Take the pack of filo out of the fridge, to let it come to room temperature. Put the orange zest and half the juice in a pan with the dried fruit. Bring to a simmer, tip into a bowl, cover and leave to soak.
- Add the apples to the same pan with the spices, sugar and the rest of the orange juice. Cover and cook over a low heat for 10 minutes until they have collapsed to make a sauce. Remove from the heat and stir into the soaked dried fruit; cool.
- Brush a 12-hole nonstick muffin tin with a little of the melted spread. Unroll the filo, keeping the unused sheets covered as you work. Brush 2 sheets with the melted spread and layer on top of each other. Cut in half lengthways to give 2 long strips, then cut each of these into 4 squares. Repeat twice more, with another 2 sheets of filo at a time, until you have 24 squares, and 1 sheet of filo left over.
- Take 2 squares and put one on top of the other at an angle, to make a star. Push into the muffin tin, gently pressing the overhang flat on the body of the tin. Repeat to make 12 cases, then spoon in the cooled ‘mincemeat’. Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4.
- For the topping, cut the last sheet of filo into short thin strands and mix this and the almonds into the remaining melted spread. Pile loosely on top of the pies.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until crisp and golden brown (cover with foil after 15 minutes if they are browning too fast). Cool in the tin for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar if you like.
