On a bit of a baking kick

After the success of the sausage rolls, I decided to make a batch of mince pies. Normally, I make my own shortcrust pastry, but I was too lazy this year and used a pack of light shortcrust pastry from Sainsburys.

I'd already ordered a huge jar of Waitrose Traditional Mincemeat that was delivered from Ocado earlier in the week.

I had a tray with spaces for 12 pies. All set and ready to go once the sausage rolls were cooked.

There was one problem - I had no pastry cutters (given to a charity shop last year) or pastry brush. Improvising with a large cup and a small pot, I had enough pastry to make eight pies. They're deep-filled but, thanks to the lack of proper cutters, the filling overflowed into the pie dishes and sealed the pies to the sides.

A little bit of patience waiting for the pies to cool, resulted in eight misshapen but absolutely scrummy mince pies (one already consumed by the time the photo was taken).