Mince pies, known as Minty pies in our house since Alice’s attempt to pronounce their name at the tender age of 20 months, are one of Alice’s favourite Christmas bakes. I like to make my own sweet shortcrust pastry, using a diabetic-sugar-substitute in place of castor sugar. I didn’t have my rolling pin handy, so had to use a (disappointingly empty) wine bottle to roll out the dough. If baking for adults I like to spike in a tot of brandy to the mince mix, but as I was baking for Alice in this instance I left it out. Brush the pastry with egg wash to make the pies bake into a lovely golden brown colour, and then dust with a powdered-sugar-substitute and serve warm with cream. Merry Christmas!