Fruit mince parcels are a wonderful Christmas treat, and not quite as sweet as fruit mince pies. You could make your own fruit mince (well in advance of Christmas Eve to allow the fruit to soak in rum), or you could keep it simple like I do and buy a good fruit mince (I use Robertson’s Traditional Fruit Mince).

What’s beautiful about fruit mince parcels is they are made with filo pastry rather than sweetened shortcrust pastry, so they are really crunchy when you bite into them. The buttery filo is the perfect foil for the rich sweetness of fruit mince.

Ingredients

410g jar of Robertson’s fruit mince
375g filo pastry
3 tbs melted butter

Method

To make the fruit mince parcels, pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Lay out on the kitchen bench (or large cutting board) one sheet of filo pastry and brush it with melted butter, lay another sheet straight on top and butter it. Repeat until you have six buttered sheets of filo pastry. Note: Allow your filo pastry to completely defrost before using it. It should be a room temperature before you try to spread it out otherwise the pastry will crack.

Cut the pastry into approximately 12cm x 12cm squares (adjust the size of the squares depending on the size of your pastry sheets; I end up with six squares from each of mine). In the centre of each pastry square place 1 tbs of fruit mince. Gather up the sides of the filo pastry and pinch in together just above the fruit mince so that it is enclosed in the pastry. The filo pastry above the fruit mince should resemble the gathered cellophane around the top of a chocolate truffle.

Butter the outside of the fruit mince parcel and place on a lined baking tray. Repeat until you’ve used all the fruit mince. The quantities should make between 15 and 20 fruit mince parcels.

Place the tray of fruit mince parcels in the oven and allow to cook until golden brown, approximately 10 minutes. Once golden, remove from the oven and allow to cool—the fruit mince will be bubbling furiously while baking. These should be served warm with a dollop of double cream.

If you wanted give fruit mince parcels as little festive gifts in the lead up to Christmas, allow them to cool completely and tie thin green and red ribbons around the gathered section of pastry.