Special Mince Pies for a Shoddy Christmas Present

At last. Far too late as usual, the tsunami of dreadful homemade presents is beginning to flow over my friends and family. And I can't wait. I can't wait to see their awkward, pretend-that-you-like-it smile once I've given them their gift and I can walk away feeling face-punchably smug.
First on the list are tasty mince pies, with a rustic pastry case that looks... home-made.
1)Prepare the sweet shortcrust pastry. I am usually very happy to use shop-bought puff or filo pastry, but if I bought shortcrust then I think guilt would be induced. It is very easy, tastes much better than from a shop, and I find, quite fun to make. Rub in 125g of butter and 50g of lard (or all butter) into 275g of plain flour and 25g of ground almonds (or all flour). A shortcut is to do this in the food processor which I would normally do, but another shortcut is to grate the very cold fat into the flour, then rubbing it in is much faster. Stir in 75g icing sugar and the grated zest of a lemon. Bring the dough together with the juice of the lemon and about 3 tablespoons of milk, but check if the dough has come together after the second spoon because you don't want it to be too wet. Bring the dough together then knead for a few seconds. Do NOT overwork. Wrap in cling film and put in the fridge for about half an hour. Roll it out to as thin as you can handle,turning the dough evenly and cut with a fluted cutter and place each circle into a greased muffin tin.
2)To prepare the filling, combine 225g Mincemeat with the zest of an orange and a tablespoon of amaretto, or another Christmassy drink like brandy.
3)Fill each case with a small teaspoon of the filling. For a lid, re-roll the leftover pastry and cut into hearts or stars or whatever you like and carefully top the tarts. Brush with beaten egg or milk and bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes. Foil is your friend (my only one); if they brown too fast just cover with foil and continue baking.
4)To turn them out, leave them to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes to let the pastry set and then run a palette knife around them and carefully lift them onto a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar.