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I will get a tin of Royal Dansk cookies.

Wow that chocolate orange looks delicious. The store also has that. I may try it.

Plus I will make a mincemeat pie. When you make pies do you have special design you put in the top crust for steam holes? I do. I always do like my mother always did. It is a single curve cut with four hole pricks on both sides. Very leaf looking. Then I brush the crust and edges which I have crimped between by fingers with milk and sprinkle lavishly with granulated white sugar. I put that same design on meat pies, too.

What you describe with the pies are very similar to my mum’s as well. She always cut up a bit of pastry in the shape of a leaf and marked it out as if the membrane of leaf and then painted with milk or egg. At Christmas normally egg rest of the year milk :o). Another tradition that is fast dying out making things more special at Christmas with most people having more free income these days the special things that you can only afford at Christmas is becoming a thing of the past and I for one am sorry about that.

At one time people only had drink or chocolates in the home at Christmas and Easter but now virtually every home in Britain has a full store cupboard year round with things in it that once for special occasions only. This makes Christmas, Easter and birthdays much less special IMHO.

Here are my mince pies, yes I put a slit on top but because they are small no leaf design on them. Mum put leaf design on either the large mince pie or more often on her meat pies especially the steak and kidney or chicken ones and of course apple pie.

On the fruit pies and mincemeat she would also sprinkle fine granulated what we call caster sugar on top. She always had a vanilla pod in her caster sugar to flavour the sugar for using in cakes etc rather than adding vanilla to mix, she said this gave a more natural and less overpowering taste of vanilla. I found some vanilla pods in ASDA the other day and have started to do that again and yes I agree with mum - mothers know best LOL.

I also make a large mincemeat tart with no top crust but put slices on apple in a fan shape round it and serve whilst still warm with fresh double (heavy) cream or British custard.

My mince pies - 3 dozen I made on Thursday

A mincemeat and apple tart I made a few months ago, I tend to make this other times of the year and have the small bit size ones for Christmas. Goes back to the time when people might drop in for a cup of tea and I mince pie when my parents had a catering business I suppose. Also when I was young and school friends might come back in the evening at Christmas time and mum always made sure there were mince pies and sausage roll available - more about sausage rolls later tonight though. I use normal pastry for my mince pies/tarts not sweet short crust, half the weight of fat to flour and water to mix. The fat is half block (hard) marg and half vegetable shortening in Britain Trex or Cooken and I believe in the States your most popular make is crisco. Cooken in Britain now has no trans fats which because of the comments over that I had stopped using it but have now gone back to it and am pleased with the improvement of my pastry again.

My apple and mincemeat tart

Plus I will make a mincemeat pie. When you make pies do you have special design you put in the top crust for steam holes? I do. I always do like my mother always did. It is a single curve cut with four hole pricks on both sides. Very leaf looking. Then I brush the crust and edges which I have crimped between by fingers with milk and sprinkle lavishly with granulated white sugar. I put that same design on meat pies, too.

Your pies sound very beautiful. Mostly, I'm impressed by the thought of someone making that effort to make something right.