It's That Time of the Year Again

I don't do pastry, I've always been rubbish at making it.  Until W gave me her recipe for mince pies.  The pastry is light, crumbly and delicious and...best of all, it's made in the food processor.  Plain flour, ground almonds, sugar, butter and the zest of an orange, plus 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water.  I made the mincemeat a few weeks ago and that has been maturing nicely in the Kilner jar.

One thing that puzzles me is that my mum made the most beautiful pastry, but she hardly ever used the scales, all the dry ingredients were measured out by 'tablespoonfuls' and she never rested the pastry in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling either.  I can only conclude that she was just a genius pastry cook.  Her favourite expression if she thought she'd added too much water was 'Oh dear, I think I've drowned the Miller', which always made me laugh...bless her.