Cottage Pie Cupcakes

I absolutely adore making and decorating cupcakes, but having them all the time can be too much of a sugar-overload. The aspect I find most appealing about cupcakes is how they are tiny individual cupcakes, all on their own. From their cupcake liner to the icing on top, they look so delicate and perfect. Why should such yummy beauty be confined to cupcakes?

These cottage pies look and taste fantastic. They can also be picked up and eaten by hand, making them the perfect finger-food for parties or buffets. They are really easy to make and don’t take much extra effort than normal cottage pies. I think the visual appeal of these pies makes the additional effort more than worth it. 

This recipe makes around ten cottage pie cupcakes

Ingredients

Pastry

100g flour

Pinch of salt

25g lard

25g butter

2 tbsp butter

Filling

250g mince

½ onion

1 clove of garlic

Pinch salt

Pinch pepper

1 tsp rosemary

1 tsp parsley

2 tbsp tomato puree

200ml beef stock

2 tbsp Worcester sauce

Topping

2 medium potatoes

Milk and butter to taste

Recipe

For the pastry

1. Preheat the oven to 180C, grease a muffin pan with 10 molds and mix together the flour and salt. Chop the lard and butter into small cubes and rub into the flour mixture until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Slowly add small amounts of water until you have a solid dough.

2. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out until it is really thin – about 1cm thick. Cut out circles large enough to fill the muffin tin and line the molds. Place in the oven until fully cooked and golden brown – around 20 minutes. 

For the filling

1. Finely chop the onion and garlic and brown in a pan over a medium heat. Add the mince and cook for around 10 minutes. 

2. At the salt, pepper, stock, tomato puree and stir well. Leave cooking on a low-medium heat for around 10 minutes, before adding the herbs and Worcester sauce. Cook until the sauce has thickened. 

For the topping

1. Wash and peel the potatoes before chopping into quarters and boiling in a pan of boiling water until a knife can easily be inserted in the centre – around 20 minutes. 

2. Drain and mash the potatoes, adding butter and milk to taste. Make sure the potato has absolutely no lumps, but still remains thick so it can be piped.

To assemble

1. Warm the pastry cups in a hot oven for a few minutes then remove from the molds and place on serving plates. 

2. Fill each cup with the mince filling – feel free to pile it above the cup, I did. 

3. Spoon the potato topping into a large piping bag and pipe the potato as you would icing on a cupcake.