These orange chocolate mince pies take flavour to the next level.
With just a few added ingredients, these pies will fill your kitchen with the aromas of Christmas.
Make them in advance and freeze in time for the festivities.
Enjoy.

Jump to:
Christmas isn't Christmas without mince pies.
Whether you serve them with the Christmas pud or Christmas tea, they have to make an appearance.
This orange chocolate mince pie version fuses all of my favourite flavours in one little pie and they are so easy to make. This is a great time to get the kids involved in the cutting out too.
I make mine in advance and freeze them, so there is less to do, but I have to say that your whole kitchen will smell amazing when you are making these.
It's the perfect aroma to welcome your guests!
❤️ Why you will love this recipe
- Store cupboard ingredients.
- Ready in 20 minutes.
- Easy to customise.
- Make in advance.
🤔FAQs
Traditionally mincemeat was a way of preserving meat using sugar and alcohol. The meat was chopped finely or minced and mixed with wine or vinegar.
Suet, was also added. It is a hard animal fat, typically from around the kidneys. This was shredded and added to the mix. This gives a richer taste to the filling.
In the 11th century, spices became available and cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg were added, to represent the gifts to Jesus from the three kings.
In later years dried fruits were added to the mix but by the 18th century the meat itself had all but disappeared.
Modern vegan mincemeat typically contains sugar, chopped apple, sultanas, raisins, currants, mixed candied peel, vegetable suet, treacle and spices.
💙 Save this recipe for later
Did you know? When you see the 💙on the right hand side, you can bookmark the page to save it for later, or share it too. This is also the best place to subscribe for weekly updates
🥘 Ingredients
- Mincemeat - ready made from a jar or make your own vegan mincemeat at home. It's always best to taste mincemeat so you can add your own flavours to it. I like to add chopped almonds, brandy, orange zest or dried cranberries.
- Cocoa - good quality cocoa powder, not drinking chocolate, which has extra milk and sugar added.
- Sugar - caster or bakers sugar. I use the golden caster variety, but the white version is fine.
- Butter - salted or unsalted. If you are using unsalted add a pinch of salt to the flour to balance the flavours. The butter should be cold from the fridge.
- Egg - beaten egg to glaze the pastry, but you can swap this for milk if you prefer.
- Flour - plain or all purpose flour.
- Oranges - I've used mandarins, but any orange will work.
The recipe card with ingredient quantities and detailed instructions can be found at the bottom of the post.
🍽 Equipment
- round cutters - about 8 centimetres or 3 inches. They need to be slighly larger than the patty tins.
- star cutter
- grater/zester
- 12 hole patty tin
- pastry brush
- rolling pin
- plastic wrap
- sharp knife
- food processor - optional
🔪 Instructions
Zest the oranges and then slice in half and juice them.
💭 Top Tip
- When zesting, take care to only remove the orange part of the zest as the white pith can be unpleasant.
Put the flour, cocoa, orange zest and salt if using, into the bowl of a food processor.
Cut the butter into cubes and add to the bowl. This helps it to mix in quickly.
Pulse the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Alternatively, place the ingredients in a bowl and use a fork or pastry cutter to combine the ingredients.
If you have cool hands, and don't mind sticky hands, rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips.
Add a tablespoon of the orange juice and pulse until the mixture comes together.
You may need to add up to another tablespoon, depending on how dry your flour is.
If you are doing this by hand, use a dinner knife to combine the juice with the flour, and then use your hands to bring the mixture together into a dough.
Leave the motor running and the chocolate pastry should come together into one piece.
Form the dough into a ball and place on a piece of plastic wrap.
Press the dough into a disc. This will make it easier to roll out later.
Wrap the dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes to harden the butter.
Roll out the dough, using some extra plain flour, to about 3 millimetres thick.
Cut out 12 circles and use to line the patty tin.
💭 Top tip
- Depending on your tin, you may need to use a different cutter. Just make sure it's just slightly larger than the diameter.
Fill each pie with about a tablespoon of mincemeat.
Cut out 12 stars from the remaining pastry and place on top.
You could also cut our holly leaves or any other holiday motif you prefer.
Whisk the egg and use the pastry brush to glaze the stars.
⏲️ Cooking Time
Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F / 180 FAN / Gas 6 and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
Leave them to cool in the pan for a few minutes and then trasfer to a wire rack to cool completely if storing.
I prefer my chocolate mince pies warm from the oven.
They are delicious on their own, but I like to garnish them with a little icing sugar and extra orange zest.
🥗 Serve with
I always serve mince pies alongside the Christmas pudding or at tea time, but they also go well with these desserts.
- Baileys Sabayon
- Lime Posset
- Devonshire Junket
- Cabinet Pudding
- Lemon Tart
- Butterscotch Tart
- Syrup Sponge Pudding
- Lemon Syllabub
- Raspberry Cranachan
- Chocolate Tiffin
- Flummery
- Chocolate Mousse
- Chocolate Marquise
🥙 Substitutions
- Egg - a little milk can take the place of the egg wash for sealing and glazing if your prefer.
- Sugar - put some white granulated sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to make caster sugar. You could also use icing or confectioners sugar.
📖 Variations
- Mincemeat - add other ingredients to the mincemeat such as chopped pecans, almonds, hazelnuts, rum, sherry, orange zest or chopped candied cherries or cranberries.
🍣 Storage
- Airtight container - keep for up to 10 days.
- Freezer - freeze them cooked, in containers or wrap the baking tray in cling film for uncooked for up to 3 months
- To reheat - cook in the oven for 5 - 10 minutes to crisp up the pastry.
🍱 Prepare in Advance
- Make ahead and store in a tin or open freeze ready to bake then transfer to a bag in the freezer.
More Christmas recipes
- Linzer cookies
- Slow Cooker Turkey Crown
- Vegan Mincemeat
- Viennese Fingers
- Slow Cooker Christmas Pudding
- Nutella Macarons
- Rudolph Crispy Rice Pops
- Pork Stuffing
- Cheese and Bacon Scones
📋 Recipe
Chocolate Mince Pies
Equipment
- round cutters about 8 centimetres or 3 inches. They need to be slighly larger than the patty tins.
- star cutter
- Grater/zester
- 12 hole patty tin
- Pastry brush
- Rolling Pin
- plastic wrap
- food process
- Sharp knife
Ingredients
- 250 g mincemeat
- 150 g plain flour
- 25 g cocoa
- 75 g butter cold
- 25 g caster sugar
- 2 mandarin oranges or 1 orange
- 1 egg
Instructions
- Zest the oranges and then slice in half and juice them.
- Put the flour, cocoa, orange zest, and salt if using, into the bowl of a food processor.
- Cut the butter into cubes and add to the bowl.
- Pulse the mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively, place the ingredients in a bowl and use a fork or pastry cutter to combine the ingredients.
- Add a tablespoon of the orange juice and pulse until the mixture comes together. You may need to add up to another tablespoon, depending on how dry your flour is. If you are doing this by hand, use a dinner knife to combine the juice with the flour, and then use your hands to bring the mixture together into a dough.
- Leave the motor running and the chocolate pastry should come together into one piece.
- Form the dough into a ball and place on a piece of plastic wrap.
- Press the dough into a disc, wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes..
- Roll out the dough, using some extra plain flour, to about 3 millimetres thick.
- Cut out 12 circles and use to line the patty tin.
- Fill each pie with about a tablespoon of mincemeat.
- Cut out 12 stars from the remaining pastry and place on top.
- Whisk the egg and use the pastry brush to glaze the stars.
- Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F / 180 FAN / Gas 6 and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Leave them to cool in the pan for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Disclaimer: The nutritional information provided is approximate and is calculated using online tools. Information can vary depending on various factors, but we have endeavoured to be as accurate as possible.
Detailed instructions for this recipe, including step by step photographs, hints and tips, can be found in the main article
Christmas
- Slow Cooker Turkey Crown4 Hours 30 Minutes
- Vegan Mincemeat15 Minutes
- Chocolate Tiffin Cake30 Minutes
- Slow Cooker Christmas Pudding13 Hours 15 Minutes
🍲Food Safety
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
- Wash hands after touching raw meat.
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
- Never leave cooking food unattended.
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
- Always have good ventilation when using gas.
Do you have a question or did you make the recipe?
Please leave a rating as it helps other readers to discover the dish. Your name and email are required to avoid spam comments; they are never used for any purpose or shared with third parties
However, due to spam comments, I do have to moderate each one, so don't worry if you cannot see your comment immediately. I'll publish your comments as soon as I can.
Dina and Bruce
How did you know that I love chocolate and orange together? We are going to make these Sunday to serve after dinner. So excited!
Mahy
Ah, these are too cute - definitely need to make these for Christmas. Yum!
Sue
These are GORGEOUS! I'm always looking for something different to make during the holidays, can't wait to try these.
Kate
We all loved this chocolate orange twist on mince pies! The chocolate and fruit worked so well together.
Tara
Oh yum! I love that these mince pies can be frozen ahead of time. The flavors sound absolutely fantastic.