What fat do you use for your Christmas pastry?

After a fair bit of experimentation, with varying results from soft and crumbly to so hard you could use it as roof tiles, I've discovered that half lard and half butter, along with half plain and half self raising flour gives the best results for me. ?

Contains varying amounts of Rapeseed, Palm and Sunflower oils
"Stork is committed to sustainable palm oil"

I usually use hard Stork. Now worried in case it contains palm oil - does anyone know?
Last batch of mince pies was made with about 75% unsalted butter and 25% Stork, because that's all I had of the latter. I asked dh whether he could tell the difference in the pastry, and he said he thought my usual was marginally nicer!

I've just had a shock. I use what I thought was a vegetable shortening for some things (butter only for mince pies) and out of curiosity, looked up the ingredients.

I found a wholesale site which sells to bakeries and restaurants and the bulk Sponge and other cake mixes all contain tallow.

I wonder if vegetarians know their bought cakes are made with beef fat?

I make pastry with oil for the vegans. Yes, just stir it in.

Interesting about making pastry with oil. I hadn’t heard of that before. Do you just pour it into the flour and stir it up? Also, what proportions? Do you think rape oil would work?

Thanks for that, GrannySomerset

For mince pies, Jocelyn Dimbleby’s orange pastry wins plaudits all round. I use 8 oz unsalted butter, 4 oz lard to 10 oz of plain flour and the juice and zest of a large orange. Make the pastry, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour, and then roll out. Gives me 40 mince pies (with star tops) and never fails.

Use with homemade mincemeat (very easy to make, takes about half an hour and keeps happily for a year or more). So far this season I have made 80 mince pies and will probably need to do another 80 for family and local events. It’s the only comestible at which I excel!

I did manage to buy all butter puff pastry but couldn't find shortcrust without palm oil.

I don't bake for Christmas. I normally use butter and any margarine that doesn't have animal fat.

Palm Oil is allowed to hide under the label 'vegetable oil' which is so wrong. If a manufacturer uses rapeseed, olive, sunflower, etc- they will label it as such. So beware, if the label says 'vegetable oil' it is 'palm' ...

Glad I live in a country where they are not allowed to do that, by Law. Palm oil has to be labelled as such, and so do other oils.

Most ready made pastry is made with palm oil - In France, I can buy butter only pastry, be it short crust or puff.

If you want to avoid palm oil you will need to empty out most of the stuff in your cupboards because it's in 50% of supermarket goods. Not just food but cosmetics and cleaning products too. You can buy products containing responsibly sourced palm oil (RSPO). I am not a domestic goddess so get my mince pies with RSPO from M&S.
Beware! PO masquerades under other names too.

The nicest mince pies I ever tasted were made by a friend who sadly died a few years ago.
She always used half and half butter and lard and her pastry was renowned.

I've used Trex and butter but the palm oil has put me off. I notice that there doesn't seem to be any ready-made pastry without palm oil in it. Tesco used to do one with all Normandy butter.

I tried all butter but they haven't been great and this year I've bought some lard, so I may try three quarters butter to a quarter lard.
If I get around tuit.
Tomorrow

Olive oil pastry is delicious and more pliable than traditional trex/butter pastry.
There are a number of recipes on line.
I always used trex/butter with perfect results.

Shortcrust- butter. I use this for mince pies because that’s what my mum did.
Flaky- a mixture of lard and butter.

I’ve started making flaky again because of the palm oil. I’d forgotten how much I liked the process.

I was just thinking of domestic science lessons with half lard and half butter/margarine.

I have only made decent pastry once and I am sure it involved an egg yolk. Gave up trying to repeat the experience and went back to ready made. Not as good but acceptable.

My SM and MIL made great pastry but very different to each others.

I use half lard, half butter for my rough puff pastry. Can still hear my old domestic science teacher saying “ Lard for shortness, margarine for colour”.
Bit fussier now so butter has replaced the margarine.
Sorry Miss G!

The only fat I use is the fat I burn off going to the local bakery to buy my mince pies! I tried making my own once but they were rock hard - I didn't bother again!

Lard and butter 50:50 and I never make sweet pastry - the filling is the sweetener for me. Vegetarians can make/bring their own as vegans do.

cheapest lard and marge available. I get asked every year to do the pastry, so I must be doing something right :-)

I use Stork which I find very easy to use as it's fairly soft and pliable to work with.

Lard and marge, if it's for sweet stuff I add a little bit of icing sugar.

I don't make my own mince pies and if I make Mr R's fav meat pie I buy the pastry more

I've always used Stork or the supermarket's own equivalent. Vegetarian friends often ask if I use lard - 'No, never!'

I'm sometimes complimented on my pastry, but then I add a little Orkney beremeal to the mix and this adds flavour.

Hadn't realised there was palm oil in the marg. Might have to reconsider...

Thanks all.