Ingredients
Pastry
Method
1.Combine fruit mince, glacé peaches, slivered and ground almonds, and brandy in a medium bowl.
2.Make pastry. Process flour, custard powder, sugar and butter until combined. Add egg yolk and enough water to make ingredients cling together. Knead dough on floured surface until smooth, wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
3.Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan forced). Grease two 12-hole (2-tablespoon/40ml) patty pans.
4.Roll two-thirds of the pastry between sheets of baking paper until 3mm (¹/8-inch) thick. Cut 24 x 7.5cm (3-inch) rounds from pastry, re-rolling scraps as necessary. Press pastry rounds into pan holes, reserve pastry scraps. Spoon fruit mince mixture into pastry cases.
5.Roll remaining third of pastry between sheets of baking paper until 3mm (¹/8-inch) thick. Cut out eight snowflakes or stars using cutters, place on eight pies.
6.Knead all pastry scraps into a ball, freeze until firm. Coarsely grate frozen pastry, sprinkle on eight pies. Brush a little egg white on pastry tops, sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of the caster sugar. Cover remaining eight pies with greased foil.
7.Bake all pies for 20 minutes or until pastry is browned lightly. Transfer the 16 pastry-topped pies to a wire rack.
8.Beat remaining egg white in a small bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining caster sugar, beating until sugar dissolves. Spoon meringue onto remaining eight pies, bake for 5 minutes or until browned lightly. Cool.
9.Dust struesel-topped pies with sifted icing sugar.
