STEP 1

• Peel the pineapple, removing all the ‘eyes’

• Rinse thoroughly in a large bowl of 1 litre water with 2 tablespoons salt

 

STEP 2

• Cut the pineapple into large chunks (remove the tough middle core) then blitz half the chunks in a blender till fine, cut the remaining half into smaller cubes (for texture in the jam) and mix together. 

• Put the pineapple, sugar and spices in a pan, bring to the boil and reduce the liquid, stirring from time to time, until the mixture is a moist 'mincemeat' jam in consistency and caramel in colour. Set aside to cool.

 

STEP 3

• Mix all the pastry ingredients in a food processor.

• Form the dough into a ball, put in a clean bowl, cover with beeswax wrap (or cling film) and chill for 1 hour.

• Remove the pineapple mixture from the refrigerator, transfer to a bowl and set aside.

 

STEP 4

• Cut the dough in half. Roll out the dough into flat pastry of 3mm/1/8in thickness. Using a round pastry cutter, cut out 12 x 6cm/3½ inch discs of pastry. Press the pastry into 12 pastry cases or a muffin tray, which has been greased with butter. Repeat the same method for the other half of the pastry dough. ​ Preheat the oven to 180 oC. 

• Gather the pastry scraps together into a ball, roll out and use a 3 ½ inch star shaped cookie cutter to make star shaped lids to place on top of each pie and place them in the refrigerator while you fill each pie base.

 

STEP 5

• Remove the muffin tray/pie cases from the refrigerator. Fill each pie with 1-1½ tablespoons pineapple mincemeat filling and top with star shapes. Bake for around 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before carefully removing the pies from the tin onto a wire rack to cool. Dust with icing sugar before serving.