South Pacific Xmas Mini Mince Pies

I'm not sure of the origin of this recipe, only that it has existed as a typed print out in my Mum's cookery scrap book for at least 10 years. Some Christmases we've misplaced or been separated from this precious piece of paper, we almost know the recipe by heart, but the 11 month seasonal gap between batches can have us racking our taste memories over email. These mince pies are distinctive because of their mini size and also the use of coconut in the filling, which caramelises with the sugar and creates a very addictive texture. They are always very popular, even to those non-lovers of traditional mince pies. Furthermore their mini size and lack of a pastry topper lulls you into feeling virtuous even though it's easy to pop half a dozen of these morsels in one sitting.

Makes 48 mini mince pies

Ingredients

x2 ready roll short crust pastry (375 grams)
2 cups currants
1 and 1/2 cups coconut
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped walnuts
75 grams softened butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon nutmeg
optional - substitute 1/2 cup currants for 1/2 cup of dried cranberries and pre-soak the dried fruit by pouring over 1 tablespoon of sherry.

Method

Grease a 24 yield mini muffin tin.

Measure out all of the ingredients (barring the pastry of course) into a large mixing bowl, beat everything together until well blended.

Roll out 1 of the 375 gram portions of pastry and cut out 24 rounds. Mould each round gently into the patty tin, before filling each mini tart base with a generous teaspoon of the batter.

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 13- 15 mins or until the tops are brown. Cool for a few minutes in the tin before coaxing out on to a wire rack for further cooling. Re-line the tin with the second portion of pastry for a second batch, or keep the remaining filling in the fridge for up to 3 days to use later.