We love the food at Christmas time, but most of the recipes are packed full of dried fruit and sugar.

This year, The Sugar Breakup team are turning many traditional Christmas recipes into sugar free Christmas classics!

We decided to start with fruit mince pies, an absolute Christmas classic and loved by all ages. We’ve called ours the Nut Mince Pie. The results were spectacular, all of your family and friends will enjoy them.

• Makes: 12
• Prep time: 30 minutes
• Oven Temperature: 175°C (fan forced 170°C)
• Cooking time: 20 minutes
• Pan: flat bottomed cupcake pan with 12 holes

Ingredients

Nut filling
1/3 cup chopped almonds
1/3 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 small green apple grated, skin on
1/3 cup The Sugar Breakup Organic Golden Rice Malt Syrup
2 tablespoons of The Sugar Breakup Dextrose
Finely grated skin of 1 orange
Finely grated skin of 1 lemon
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon mixed spices
Pinch of nutmeg
25g melted butter
1 tablespoon brandy

Pastry
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup The Sugar Breakup Dextrose
75g butter
1 large egg lightly beaten to just mix yolk and white
1 tablespoon iced water

Let the Christmas fun begin!

1. To make the nut mince, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix. You can use the mixture immediately, but if you have time, make it the day before and put into the fridge overnight. This allows the flavours to develop.
2. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Brush the cupcake baking tray holes with extra melted butter.
3. Place the flour, dextrose and butter in a bowl and rub in the butter until its fine and crumbly, resembling bread crumbs. Add the egg and using a knife, mix until it just comes together. Add the water if needed.
4. Turn out the pastry onto a lightly floured surface roll out 2/3 of the pastry and cut out 12 rounds with a biscuit cutter. Make sure the cutter will cut sizes big enough to cover the entire cupcake hole. Place the cut pastry into the cupcake holes.
5. Place the nut mince filling into the the pastry cases.
6. Roll out remaining pastry and cut smaller rounds with the centres also cut out with a Christmas decorative cutter.
7. Place large rounds on top of half the pies and seal on the edges. Place the smaller decorative cutouts onto the remaining half of pies.
8. Place tray into preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then lift out using a knife and cool on a wire rack.

Handy Hint
If using a Thermomix to make the pastry – place the flour, dextrose and butter into the bowl and mix for 10 seconds on speed 6, until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add egg and water and then knead 10 to 20 seconds on kneading speed.