Christmas can be tricky for food allergy and intolerance sufferers – but this recipe by Lucinda Bruce-Gardyne offers a simple solution.
Ingredients
- 100g rice flour, plus extra for dusting
- 100g fine yellow cornmeal
- ½ tsp salt
- 100g chilled butter or cold dairy-free margarine, diced
- 1 medium free-range egg, beaten
Method
- 1. Sift the flour, cornmeal and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter or margarine and rub into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- 2. Using a table knife, stir in the egg, until the mixture clumps together. Bring the dough together into a ball. Knead lightly on a work surface dusted with rice flour, until smooth. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up – this will make it easier to roll.
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- 3. Roll out the pastry to 3mm thickness between 2 sheets of floured cling film, to hold the pastry together.
- FOR 12 MINCE PIES Peel away both sheets of cling film before using a 7-8cm cutter to cut out 24 pastry rounds. Use 12 pastry rounds to line a 12-hole mince pie or bun tin. Press the remaining pastry rounds onto the mince pies and seal the pastry edges together. Cut 2 holes in the top of each mince pie to allow the steam to escape and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool, then dust with icing sugar.
Nutritional info
Per pie: 132kcals, 7.7g fat (4.5g saturated),
2g protein, 13.2g carbs, 0.1g sugar, 0.3g salt
Chef's tip
This crisp yet crumbly gluten-free and nut-free pastry is great for mince pies. If you’re allergic to dairy, too, then use cold baking dairy-free margarine in place of butter. For sweet pastry, add 70g caster sugar with the egg.
The pastry is delicate and soft, so keep it chilled and roll it out on a cold surface.