Christmas Fruit Pies Massam

ingredients

• filling:
• 1 large Granny Smith apple
• 1/4 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup dark raisins
• 1/4 cup dried currants
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons brandy or whiskey
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• dough:
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
  2 2/3 sticks whipped butter
  2 sticks hydrogenated fat
  2 sticks margarine
  1 1/2 sticks olive oil
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup confectioners sugar

directions

Make filling:

Peel and core apple and grate coarse. In a bowl stir together apple and dried fruits and stir in remaining filling ingredients. Filling may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered.

Make dough:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor blend together dough ingredients until a dough forms, about 1 minute.

Reserve 1/3 dough, chilled, for tops of pies. With floured hands roll rounded teaspoonfuls of remaining dough into 1 inch balls and press each ball evenly onto bottom and up side of each of 24-cup non-stick mini-muffin tin (1 3/4 by 1 inch). Chill shells 30 minutes.

On a floured surface roll out reserved dough into an 8 inch round (about 0.75 inch thick) and with a 1.5 inch round cutter cut out 24 rounds, rerolling scraps as necessary. Fill each shell with about 1 heaping teaspoon filling (fill level with top of tin), and top each pie with a round of dough, pressing edges together to seal. Chill pies 20 minutes.

Bake pies in middle of oven 28 minutes, or until pale golden, and cool in tins on racks 20 minutes. Turn pies out onto racks and cool completely. Pies may be made 4 days ahead and kept in an airtight container at room temperature.