Home thoughts from abroad

[ellarien]

I miss mince pies; fruity spicy mincemeat in a deckle-edged pastry shell, dusted with powdered sugar; the ubiquitous snack of the British festive season. I remember helping my mother make them: rolling the pastry and cutting out the rounds; patting the larger ones down into the dimples in the baking tin and spooning in the mincemeat; running the pastry brush around the edge of the lower layer of dough and patting the smaller top layer into place. If they exist here, I've never noticed them. I'm not sure I've even seen the right kind of baking tray here, though I suppose a muffin tin would do at a pinch.