Mincemeat

Mincemeat

Lulu Grimes makes Christmas baking easy with a batch of homemade mincemeat and three simple ways to use it - cake, pies and pudding

Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 4 jars (about 400ml)

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 12 hrs 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Method

  1. Put all except the butter in a bowl, cover and leave overnight to macerate.
  2. The next day, sterilise six 350ml jars and their lids by washing them thoroughly in hot soapy water, rinsing in very hot clean water and drying them in a low oven. While the jars are drying, put the fruit mixture in a roasting tin and warm it through in the same low oven for 15-20 minutes. Melt the butter and stir it through the warmed fruit. Divide the mixture between the hot jars and put the lids on. Leave to cool. These will keep for up to 6 months in a cool, dark place.
Try

To make a Christmas pudding

Mix 1 jar mincemeat with 100g grated butter, 200g self-raising flour, 200g dark soft brown sugar, 4 tbsp golden syrup, 4 tbsp ginger wine, 1 grated apple, 2 balls chopped stem ginger in syrup, 2 eggs and 100g sultanas. Spoon into a 1.5 litre pudding basin (or 2 smaller ones) cover with greaseproof paper and foil and steam for 21/2 hours or until cooked through (test with a skewer). Keep steaming if you want the pudding to darken.

To make mincepies

Roll out 500g shortcrust or puff pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin and stamp out 12 x 8cm circles to line 8 bun holes. Put a small spoonful of mincemeat in each - don't overfill. Stamp out 12 slightly smaller rounds for lids. Seal the lids on with a little beaten egg and brush the lids. Sprinkle with golden caster sugar. Bake at 200C/fan 180C/gas 6 for 15-20 minutes or until golden and cooked. These will freeze cooked or uncooked; to cook from frozen use the same temperature for 30 minutes.

To make a Christmas cake

Line and butter a 20cm deep tin. Mix 200g self-raising flour, 150g light muscovado sugar, 150g softened butter and 3 eggs with 1 jar of the mincemeat, 150g mixed chopped dried figs, cranberries and cherries and 1 tub glacé cherries. Spoon into the tin and bake at 170C/fan 150C/gas 3 for 2 hours, or until the middle feels springy. Cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out to cool completely. Decorate with dried fruit and nuts and brush with apricot jam, or with marzipan and icing.

PER SERVING

99 kcalories, protein 0.7g, carbohydrate 15.5g, fat 3.8 g, saturated fat 1.9g, fibre 0.6g, salt 0.04 g

Recipe from olive magazine, December 2010.

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Latest comments and suggestions

  • Binder photo margetter

    18 November 2010

    margetter commented on this recipe

    I can not stand mixed peel and that is why can't eat mincepies, but love the pastry. Can I make the mincemeat without peel? Or is that the most important bit of the mincemeat?

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  • Binder photo Huckleberry

    19 November 2010

    Huckleberry commented on this recipe

    it says what the calorie content is per serving but how much is a serving??

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  • Binder photo jukay

    21 November 2010

    jukay rated and commented on this recipe

    3 stars

    OK, I haven't eaten it yet but it's in the jars. I had 375ml jars and only managed to fill 4. I only used 2 apples although they were quite large but I felt I had enough apple at that point. I think the dried fruit to apple ratio is wrong so another time I would use 2 apples and then more (at least another 200g more) of the dried fruits. I can't get candied peel here in the States and I wasn't up for making my own so I just used a bit extra lemon zest and I added some chopped crystallized ginger because I love ginger. You could also use some glace cherries but there's no problem with leaving out the candied peel and you don't need to use anything in it's place really, I actually think the fresh zest makes for a better flavour. Overall a nice easy recipe with not much chopping involved but I think it needs a bit of tweaking.

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  • Binder photo JoW

    23 November 2010

    JoW commented on this recipe

    Can I leave out the alcohol? Or is it key to how it will store?

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  • Binder photo BARBARA

    12 December 2010

    BARBARA commented on this recipe

    Jukay, orange peel is available in the US. Don't know what stores you have checked, but as a last resort might want to try online.

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  • Binder photo Soody

    19 December 2010

    Soody commented on this recipe

    I got candied peel in Krogers, I'm not sure it was called 'candied peel' though, sorry I can't remember what it was called.

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  • Binder photo Elizabeth

    21 December 2010

    Elizabeth commented on this recipe

    In the US, "candied peel" is usually in the raisin section, sometimes called fruit cake mix.

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  • Binder photo Sinead

    24 November 2011

    Sinead commented on this recipe

    Made this and used it in mince pies. It was delicious! Wll make again.

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  • Binder photo foodie1996

    21 December 2012

    foodie1996 rated and commented on this recipe

    5 stars

    Made this with my mum last night and it smells delicious and I managed to fill 2 normal jam jars and one slightly shorter but fatter jar. It's very nice, just the right amount of everything, and I am making the Deep-filled mince pies (recipe off this website) with it on Monday.

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  • Binder photo Sarah Guinane

    22 December 2012

    Sarah Guinane rated this recipe

    5 stars

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  • Binder photo Sarah Guinane

    22 December 2012

    Sarah Guinane commented on this recipe

    Made this just now, it was fairly easy and tastes lovely. I would suggest reducing the amount of apples, 3 are too many. For 500g of fruit, I used one and a half Granny Smith apples and it was plenty. I also added a little ground ginger, which worked nicely. Merry Christmas!

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Difficulty and servings

Easy

Makes 4 jars (about 400ml)

Preparation and cooking times

Preparation time

Prep 12 hrs 10 mins

Cook time

Cook 20 mins

Ingredients

  • 3 apples , cored and finely chopped
  • 500g mixed dried fruits (try Waitrose wholesome mixed dried vinefruit)
  • 100g piece candied peel , finely chopped or ready-chopped mixed peel
  • 60g blanched almonds , chopped
  • 175g light muscovado sugar
  • 1 orange , zested and juiced
  • 1 lemon , zested and juiced
  • 2 tsp ground mixed spice
  • .5 tsp ground cinnamon
  • good grating nutmeg
  • 5 tbsp brandy or rum
  • 150g unsalted butter
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PER SERVING

99 kcalories, protein 0.7g, carbohydrate 15.5g, fat 3.8 g, saturated fat 1.9g, fibre 0.6g, salt 0.04 g

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