I used an old faithful recipe from the MaryBerry Christmas Collection*, where the pastry gets a lift from adding a bit of icing sugar and the grated zest of half an orange (recipe is also in this article)
Although these certainly wouldn't stand up to the judgement of any higher baking beings, like MaryBerry, and I would crumble (even if the pastry didn't) if Paul Hollywood gave my little pies the angry stare but they don't half taste good
Rachel Allen has a more classic approach of dividing one shortbread mixture in half to create two layers surrounding the mincemeat, whilst MaryBerry’s recipe has a very thin pastry layer as the base and a grated streusel topping
For my basic method & what to include I consulted the legendary MaryBerry and also Joy of Baking and went somewhere in-between for my healthier take on the traditional classic
