Vegan Mince Pies

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees, gas mark 4.Chop the apples into little chunks and place into a large saucepan and add in the orange juice & zest, sweetner, raisins, lemon zest, cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg.

Heat on low for 20-25 minutes until the apples soften. While the mincemeat cooks, make the pastry.

2. In a food processor, add in the ground almonds, flour, coconut oil, dates and water. Whizz up until combined, this will take around 3-5 minutes on high.

3. Grease 2 cupcake tins with dairy-free butter or coconut oil.

4. Flour a clean work surface.

5. Roll out the pastry until around 1/2cm thick.

Cut out with a circle cutter to fit in the cupcake tin, then place into the lined tin. With leftover pastry, cut out some decorative stars.

6. Place the pastries case into the oven and allow to bake for 6-8 minutes.

7. Once the pastry cases are slightly golden, remove them from the oven and fill each pastry case with your homemade mince meat and place a star on top.

8. Pop the mince pies back into the oven and allow to bake for a further 8 minutes. Once they've baked, place them onto a cooling rack to cool, or enjoy them warm.

For an extra Christmas touch, sprinkle over some icing sugar (optional).

Keep stored in a sealed container (once fully cool).