Gluten-Free Vegan Mincemeat Pie was a reader requested recipe for the winter holiday season during a recent giveaway {where people were encouraged to suggest the holiday recipe they would love to have made gluten, dairy, and egg-free the most}. Natalie wrote:
"If there’s one recipe I’d love to make for my husband, who can’t have gluten, dairy, eggs, soy, corn, beans and nuts, is the traditional mince pies. I’ve been struggling to find a good recipe for a pastry crust that doesn’t use butter or eggs and yet flaky and tender. The mincemeat filling should be less challenging: dried fruits, stewed apples, maybe coconut oil?…I’d really love to see what you can come up with."
I could not resist but jump at the opportunity to re-visit this wonderful traditional holiday treat, and find a way to make that flaky gluten-free, butter-less, and egg-less pie crust. I adapted my crust into a gluten and dairy-free version from a classic traditional recipe and it worked really well. I've used this recipe several times since {trying it with both my own flour mix and my favorite store-bought cup-for-cup gluten-free mix} and it's definitely a keeper! It's very easy to make and can double as a sweet or savory crust depending on what you're making.
For some odd reason I only like my mincemeat pie in mini form {maybe it's some sort of conditioning from childhood?} and I therefore made this recipe into mini gluten-free vegan mincemeat pies. {Plus, I find smaller pie crusts much less intimidating to work with ;) }. I also tested this recipe for 12 larger mini pies {made in regular sized muffin tins} and it worked spectacularly. I actually liked them better in the larger size {though a few of my tester friends were strong proponents of the mini-minis!}, but they were so good they did not make it to the picture phase ;-) . So up to you how you want to fashion these -- be they minis, larger minis, or a larger pie. Either way, gluten-free vegan mincemeat pie is back as an option at the holiday table and that's all that matters! ;)
Gluten-Free Vegan Mincemeat Pie
Crust recipe adapted from the traditional mincemeat pie pastry from Joy of Baking.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 12 mini pies
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
Mincemeat Filling:
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- ½ cup apple butter {I used my homemade apple butter recipe}
- ¾ cup mix of dried fruit {I used a mix of thompson raisins, golden raisins, dried cherries, dried currants, and cranberries}
- zest and juice of ½ an orange
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp cloves
- ¼ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ tsp salt
Pie Crust:
- ¾ cup gluten-free flour mix {I recommend Pamela's Artisan Flour Blend}{or make your own by combining: ⅓ cup brown rice flour, ⅓ cup tapioca starch, 3 tablespoon sweet rice flour, ¼ teaspoon guar gum}
- ¼ cup coconut oil, room temperature {not hot or melted}
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp ice water
Instructions
- Begin by preparing the filling: place all filling ingredients into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally to combine and allowing the heat to bring the flavors together. Allow mixture to simmer a few minutes, then remove from heat and set aside to cool while working on the crust.
- Preheat oven to 400F. Oil a 12 mini muffin pan and set aside {a good non-stick tin is recommended}.
- Place flour, maple syrup, and salt into a food processor and process to combine. Add in coconut oil and process on pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add in ice water and pulse a few times to combine.
- Scoop out dough and shape into a ball, then flatten into a disk. Prepare a rolling surface {I rolled my dough out in between two sheets of parchment paper for easy handling}. Roll out the dough to approximately ¼" -⅙" thickness.
- Use a round cookie cutter that's a bit bigger than the opening of the muffin cups to cut out as many rounds as you can. Transfer the cut dough circles into the muffin cups and carefully shape each pastry circle to the shape of the cup. Fix any rips or tears in the process {though I didn't really have to -- the dough was quite sturdy!}. Gather up the remaining dough scraps and re-roll dough again to cut out the rest of the rounds.
- Gather up any remaining scraps once again, roll out the dough and then use a smaller cookie cutter {or a knife} to cut out 12 more shaped pieces of dough that will go on top of each pie. {Note: the dough may get quite soft at this point, so if you find the small shapes are difficult to handle, roll out the dough and place in the freezer for 10 mins while working on the next step, this will help it harden up a little so the little cut-outs are easier to handle}.
- Scoop about 1 teaspoon prepared mincemeat filling into each muffin cup. Top with a smaller dough scrap cut-out shape {see previous step}.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and place muffin tray on a cooling rack. Allow pies to cool for 10 mins, then remove from the tray and enjoy warm or chill for later use.
Notes
I used apple butter in place of chopped apples and apple juice in this filling recipe as it drastically reduces the cooking and prep time in the filling {and adds a lot of flavor, thickness, and natural sweetness}.
Filling can be made days in advance and stored in the fridge {this is actually recommended by some to help the flavors come together more as the filling sits in the fridge overnight, though I used mine straight away and it tasted great too}.
Traditional mincemeat filling consists of a mix of different dried fruit, citrus fruits, candied ginger, etc. Feel free to use a mix of any of the following traditional ingredients you have on hand: dark raisins, golden raisins, dried cranberries, dried currant, dried apricots, dried figs, dates, candied ginger, candied citrus peel, candied cherries, etc. {Personally, I skipped all the candied ingredients to avoid the excess sugar and the funky ingredients these tend to be accompanied with, and I did not feel like they were wanted -- the filling tasted great!}
Double the recipe ingredients for 12 larger mini pies {using regular muffin trays} or for a single larger pie.
Aurelija says
I was reading no 3: add in coconut flour... you probably meant coconut oil :)
The Real Person!
Ah, yes, thanks very much for the catch. All fixed.
Natalie says
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, Audrey! It took me a few days to gather ingredients and run multiple batches to test the crust.
First of all, I made the fillings in advance. I used dates, dried figs, apples and spices cooked down till gooey and sticky. Next, I set out to work on the crust.
With my husband by my side, we worked through a couple of test batches. I didn't have long grain brown rice, so had to use medium grain brown rice instead. As a result, the crust's texture was gummy.
My husband found the tapioca smell too strong so I changed the proportion to 60/30 potato/tapioca and that was fine by him. We can't tolerate guar gum, but adding some psyllium husk did the trick.
I also adjusted the taste by adding more salt and reducing the sweetener slightly. In later batches, I added a little bit of vinegar to make the crust more tender and it worked really well.
At some point, we substituted long grain white rice for the brown rice in the original recipe, and medium grain brown rice for the sweet white rice and that turned out to be an acceptable compromise.
These mince pies, along with your eggnog, are just the right treats for my husband to enjoy this Christmas.
Thank you for all this inspiration and have a wonderful holiday season!
The Real Person!
Hi Natalie, so glad to hear you worked out a version you can enjoy in the end! Yay! :) It's interesting about the tapioca smell -- I used to use a mix of tapioca and potato starch, but wasn't noticing too much of a difference when I increased the tapioca, so I switched to using just that to cut down on the insane amount of baking supplies on my kitchen shelves :) . But now you've got me wondering about the flavor difference again, so I think I'll pick up some potato starch soon as play around with it in recipes again. Glad to hear the psyllium husk worked well too. Thanks for sharing your journey with making this recipe! Happy holidays! :)
Jess Scholtz says
I'm so excited to see this recipe. I miss Mincemeat pies, it was something my grandfather made every year.
Happy Holidays!
The Real Person!
Thanks so much, Jess! Hope you get to make it and enjoy it :) Happy holidays!