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maltatoday SUNDAY 17 DECEMBER 2017 THIS WEEK 35 Mince pies Ingredients • 170g flour • 1 tsp salt • 113g butter, cold and cut into cubes • ¼ cup ice-cold water • 1 jar mince (or make your own using this recipe) Method 1. In a large mixing bowl add the cubed but- ter to the flour and salt and rub the butter in until you have a breadcrumb-like mix- ture. 2. Add the water, a little at a time, and bring together until you get a pastry-like consist- ency. 3. Cut the pastry into bits you will use for each recipe and wrap them in foil. 4. Place into the fridge for an hour before us- ing. 5. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. 6. Roll out the pastry and cut 12 rounds large enough to coat the bottom of a muffin tin. 7. Grease the muffin tin well and dust with flour. 8. Line the bottom with pastry. 9. Add a tsp of mince to each pastry case. 10. Roll out the remaining pastry and cut 12 stars and place one on top of each mince pie. 11. Bake in the oven for 20 mins until the pas- try is golden. 12. Allow to cool for 10 mins in the pan before transferring to a wire rack. 13. Dust with icing sugar. 14. Store in an air-tight container for up to a week. It's not Christmas until you've made your first batch of mince pies! Mak- ing your own is really easy and tastes so much better than even the best store-bought ones. Made from a strict selection of grapes – exclusively of the Primitivo variety – grown on a terrain of reddish ochre earth mixed with slabs of limestone that have been crushed (according to the unique technique known as spietramento), and following 12 months' maturation in 65-hectolitre casks of precious Slavonian oak as well as appropriate bottle-ageing, this cru maintains the rigour of its indigenous cultivar whilst opening itself up to international taste. Indeed, the name Sasseo ("stony") chosen for this Primitivo is intended to recall the uniqueness, sunniness and strength of the terroir that one finds in the glass. Bouquet: This wine offers the nose full and intense aromas with hints of plums, jams of red fruits and sweet accents of spices. Palate: A wine of a good body, it has a mouth-filling flavour that is warm and soft and expresses a highly mature fruitiness, supported by a pleasant complex of sweet tannins. Food Affinities: Bean and chicory soup, red meats roasted over the coals and roast lamb. Exclusively imported by Charles Grech & Co. Ltd, Valley Road, Birkirkara T: 2144 4400 Sasseo Masseria Altemura, Sasseo Primitivo, Salento IGT , Italy