100g cold cubed butter
1 tbsp caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
cold water
30g melted butter
250g marzipan
1 jar of good quality mincemeat (I use homemade)
4 sheets of filo pastry
Gold lustre spray (optional)
You will also need 9 inch loose bottomed flan tin (or an 8 inch loose bottomed tin with deep sides will work)
Start by rubbing the cold butter into the flour, sugar and salt, with a food processor, when the butter is well worked in add the egg yolk, pulse until combined. Now slowly add enough very cold water to bring to a dough. Form the pastry into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and pop into the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven 170˚c
Once rested roll the pastry to fit your loose bottomed flan tin, line the flan tin with the pastry. Roll 200g of the marzipan into a 9 inch circle and place in the bottom of the flan. Spoon over the mincemeat. Now brush a sheet of the filo with the melted butter tear into strips and gently scrunch up the strips and place buttered side up over the mincemeat, repeat until all 4 sheets are done.
Roll out the remaining marzipan to roughly the depth of a £1 coin and use a 1 inch (or large, any smaller and the stars will just burn) star cutter to cut out as many stars as you can, pop onto a lined baking sheet and chill (I like to do this in the freezer when possible)
Place into a preheated oven on the middle shelf and bake for about 25-30 mins until the filo is just starting to turn golden, place your marzipan stars randomly over the filo, bake for a further 5-10 mins making sure the stars don't catch.
Give a little blitz with the gold lustre dust if using, turn out onto a wire rack to cool. This will freeze beautifully until needed.
