Gluten free Iced cranberry mince pies - Sainsbury's

Sainsbury supermarket has one of the most comprehensive ranges of Free From foods.  There free from Christmas  selection has also increased as well.  When I think of Christmas festive food, mince Pies immediately pop up in my mind.  

Mince Pies are a main part of our British Christmas food traditions.  Thought the ones we eat today contain no minced meat. The originally ones were filled with a mix of minced meat, suet, dried fruit and spices, which usually included cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.  Only the rich could afford to buy spices, so were served to guests as a status symbol to show their wealth.  

Modern mince pies thankfully no longer contain meat and the suet used is vegetarian not beef.  Households would have there own special recipe of mince meat, with their preferred blend of dried fruit and spices. They could soak the filling in brandy or rum. If you chose to make your own it has to be mixed clockwise as doing otherwise will bring bad luck for the New year.  

Mince pies became more available, as dried fruit and spices became cheaper to buy.  Industrialisation also increased food production. Instead of making their own filling, many families  could now buy it pre-prepared.  I used to love making my own, they are especially fun to make with kids.  They were especially tasty made with puff pastry.

It's great that the majority of supermarkets are now producing there own Free From brands of Mince pies, so no one is left out.

Free From Iced Mince Pies

From Sainsbury's

The addition of cranberries to the mince pie filling makes for a lighter and fresh tasting pie.  Some people have a love hate relationship with them.  The dried fruit and spices are not to everyone tastes, though personally I love them.

The pie crust was perfect, you couldn't tell it made with gluten free flour.  The only criticism I can make is that the layer of icing was too thick.  It made them a little too sweet for me.  To make them festive the top is dusted with in a little gold glitter.  

Taking everything into consideration I would buy these again. They would make a brilliant dessert covered with hot custard.