Fruit Mince Slice

Christmas is fast approaching. I've been trying my hardest to get lots of Christmas baking done this month, and am only half succeeding. My mini gingerbread houses are still standing, I haven't managed to bring myself to tear them down yet. I love fruit mince pies during this time of the year. Or any time of the year really. In fact, I planned to make this fruit mince slice for Christmas in July, but by the time I got around to it, it was the end of July and there wasn't really much point. So I saved it up for the real thing, and shared it with my Mum, who loves fruit mince pies as much as me.

This fruit mince slice is a slightly different to a mince pie, for one thing it's much easier to make and has a higher ratio of filling to pastry. I usually prefer thing since I normally find the pastry in some mince pies a little too thick for the amount of filling they have. This one has just the right amount, and the pastry is a perfect, butter shortbread. And have you noticed that things are just a little bit more fun in slice form? The recipe allows you to use jars of fruit mince if you can't be bothered making your own from scratch, but I would definitely recommend making your own, just because the supermarket stuff can be a little bland. I was forced to use up the jar I bought at the end of July, and my Mum was wishing that my slice tasted a little more boozy, so maybe I should have mixed in a little brandy with the bottled fruit mince to make it less bland. But it still had plenty of flavour thanks to that lovely pastry and the addition of glace ginger and prunes.

Just because fruit mince pastries are usually reserved for Christmas time, don't let that stop you from making this slice any time of the year. I think it's fabulous, and would happily make it again, much sooner than Christmas! Mum liked it enough that she took a whole container of it back to Malaysia with her and is eating a slice a day :)

Fruit Mince Slice
(from the Essential Baking Cookbook)
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup icing sugar
185g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg
410g fruit mince (jar or homemade)
150g pitted prunes, choppled
100g glace ginger, chopped
1 egg, lightly beated
icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C. Lightly grease a shallow 28x18cm tin and line the base with baking paper, leaving the paper hanging over the two long sides. This makes it easy to lift the cooked slice out of the tin.

Sift the flour and icing sugar into a large bowl. Rube in the butter with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Make a well in the centre and add the egg. Mix with a flat bladed knife, using a cutting action, until the mixture comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured sugar and press together until smooth (the mixture is very soft, so handle it very lightly or it will become tough).

Divide the dough in half and press one portion into the tin. Bake for 10 minutes, then leave to cool.

Roll the remaining pastry out on a piece of baking paper and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Spread the fruit mince evenly over the baked pastry, topping with prunes and ginger.

Cut the rolled pastry into this strip with a sharf knice or fluted pastry wheel. Arrange on top of the fruit in a diagonal lattice pattern. Brush with beaten egg.

Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Cool in the tin, then life out using the paper as handles and cut into squares or fingers.

Serve dusted with icing sugar. This slice can be kept for us to four days if stored in an airtight container in a cool place, or in the refrigerator.