Lattice Mince Pie Tray Bake (with the best sweet shortcrust pastry you’ll ever taste!)

Butter a Swiss roll tin – I use a 20cm x 10cm tin.

Sift the flour, baking powder and sugar into a bowl, add the butter and rub until it resembles breadcrumbs, then add the cream cheese, ground almonds and egg yolk. Take a knife and mix until it comes together into a dough – you may need to add a little milk here, as I did.

Once it’s all together, wrap in clingfilm and chill the dough for at least 30 min before rolling out. (The dough also freezes really well and will keep for about a month.) The pastry is very short and crumbly so be generous with the flour and gentle when you roll… plus the flour will also help with the strips of lattice when weaving them together.

Cut the pastry in half and roll out one half to the size of your traybake tray, carefully lift it into the tin and push it well into the corners of the tray. Trim and then smoosh the trimmings back into the remaining pastry.

Roll out the second half of the pastry so that it’s at least as long as your tray and then cut into thin strips – I used a frilly pastry roller which makes everything not only look pretty but also a lot more professional, plus it’s very forgiving when it comes to straight lines.

Fill your pastry-lined tray with mincemeat, ensuring you spread it out well so it’s evenly distributed, then you can begin to lattice.

I always start by laying out all the lines of pastry for one direction and I start at one end and let the pastry strips hang over the other end – this way I know if I have enough. Then I start in the other direction and this is where I begin to weave, over and under. I’d recommend doing a quick search online for one of the millions of videos showing you how.

Brush the top with an egg wash made from one beaten egg mixed with a little milk and bake at 160C for roughly 20 min or until the pastry is golden.

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