Gluten-free Mince Pies

What happens when you cross a person who was brought up a Jehovah's Witness [in case you don't know they don't celebrate Christmas] with someone, who at 46, loves Christmas as much as a 4 year old? 

The answer is........... you get a lot of compromise going on.  Compromise and negotiation which would put United Nation peace negotiators to shame!

Here is a prime example of how we view Christmas - my favourite Christmas film is Bad Santa - his favourite film is "Elf", followed closely by "Miracle on 42nd Street".  That pretty much sums things up nicely.

Our first Christmas together Pixie bought me [at the age of 40] my first ever advent calendar.  Not just any old cardboard calendar from the supermarket.  Oh no, a proper fabric, embroidered calendar with little pockets, which he proceeded to fill - on 01 December - with a mixture of individually wrapped tiny chocolates.  He still has the advent calendar from his childhood. 

Every year, since we met 6 years ago,  I've been de-humbugged ever so slightly.  I can't say I look forward to it exactly but I don't dread it quite so much.

Last weekend I baked my very first batch of gluten-free Mince Pies using this recipe from BBC Good Food.  They turned out great - as you can see below.

Cooks tips:

My one tweak [and I always make a tweak it seems] is that I find fruit mincemeat too sweet, so I substituted some of the mincemeat with dried cranberries to add some tartness.  It worked a treat. 

As suggested in the recipe, I used Sainsbury's Finest fruit mince meat.  Which is for all intents and purposes gluten-free.  There was an allergy warning on the label was that it wasn't 100% guaranteed gluten-free because of the manufacturing environment.  So for those who are ultra gluten intolerant you should look for a totally gluten-free version.

p.s am I the only one who finds Billy-Bob Thornton sexy?