Blitz 'n' blend mincemeat

Blitz 'n' blend mincemeat

By Barney Desmazery
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(2 ratings)
By
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Ready in 20 minutes

Easy

About 1.6kg/3lb 8oz
A traditional boozy mincemeat that's ready in 20 minutes - make a big batch, bottle up and give as gifts

Nutrition and extra info

  • Freezable

Nutrition: per serving

  • kcal81
  • fat2g
  • saturates1g
  • carbs14g
  • sugars5g
  • fibre0g
  • protein0g
  • salt0.02g
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Ingredients

  • 50g blanched almond
    Almond

    Almond

    arr-mund or al-mund

    Sweet almonds have a subtle fragrance that lends itself well to baking and also works well with…

  • 100g candied peel
  • 1 Bramley apple, peeled, cored and chopped into large chunks
    Bramley apples

    Bramley apple

    bram-lee app-el

    A large, flattish cooking apple, green in appearance but sometimes with specks of red. The flesh…

  • 50g stem ginger, plus 2 tbsp syrup from the jar
  • 50g glacé cherry
  • 50g ready-to-eat dried pineapple
    Pineapple

    Pineapple

    pine-ap-pel

    With its tuft of spiky, dusty green leaves and cross-hatched, golden orange skin, the pineapple…

  • 225g each of sultanas/ raisin /currants
  • 140g shredded suet
  • 225g light muscovado sugar
  • ¼ tsp each powdered ginger /mixed spice/nutmeg
    Ginger

    Ginger

    jin-jer

    Mainly grown in Jamaica, Africa, India, China and Australia, ginger is the root of the plant. It…

  • grated zest and juice of 1 orange
    Orange

    Orange

    or-ange

    One of the best-known citrus fruits, oranges aren't necessarily orange - some varieties are…

  • 150ml brandy or dark rum
    Brandy

    Brandy

    bran-dee

    Brandy is a distilled spirit made from virtually any fermented fruit or starchy vegetable.…

Method

  1. In your food processor, pulse the almonds, peel, apple, ginger, cherries and pineapple together until finely chopped (but not mushy), then tip into a large bowl. In batches, pulse the sultanas, raisins and currants until just chopped a little bit then add to the bowl.

  2. Sprinkle the suet and sugar, salt and spices over all the chopped fruit and mix well. To mix, squelch through fingers. Pour over the ginger syrup, orange juice and zest and alcohol, then mix again. Spoon the mixture into sterilised jars and keep until needed.

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Comments, questions and tips

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Angela Grey's picture
Angela Grey
4th Dec, 2017
Melted butter is a delicious alternative to suet. (taken from a Marguerite Patten recipe)
coasterstep
22nd Nov, 2017
5.05
Have just made this recipe. I just made a quarter of the recipe which filled one jar nicely - I live in France and had not ordered suet from UK so just made do with the little I had. Could have used grated butter instead but was happy with one jar. Only problem was that my processor did not want to chop the pineapple so out with a sharp knife for that. Smelt delicious so look forward to trying it.
hnorman
12th Dec, 2015
I now live in America, I have never seen shredded suet! What can I use instead?
bytheway
11th Dec, 2009
I live in France and would love to make mincemeat, does anyone have any ideas about what I could use instead of suet as I cannot find it here
coasterstep
22nd Nov, 2017
5.05
I have lived in suetless parts of the world and have used grated frozen butter (messy) and also actual beef suet from butcher which then had to be grated. Worked OK. Now live in France on the route of a company which delivers your UK supermarket order, so you shop online, order is delivered to company and the next day it is delivered to you!
carolpwilson
20th Nov, 2009
5.05
I've made this for a couple of Christmases and it's nicely flavoured with the ginger, pineapple and cherries. I prefer to make my own mincemeat as the shop bought stuff is far too sweet and tasteless and lacks body whilst this is just the opposite! It's quick and easy to make too once you've measured out all the ingredients - just throw them in the processsor. I usually make a large plate tart using pastry flavoured with ground almonds (my late Dad's recipe) on Boxing Day. It's a family favourite but is far too sweet and gooey with commercial mincemeat.
hnorman
12th Dec, 2015
I now live in America and have never seen shredded suet, what can I use instead, please?
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
18th Dec, 2015
Grated butter can be used in place of mincemeat. Freeze the block then coarsely grate in a little of it, stir in, then add more, stirring as you go as this stops the butter from sticking together in clumps.
babynothing78
4th Nov, 2015
I have a question about sterilising jars and food safety. Someone has told me that it's not safe to put the mincemeat in jars cold, and that I should boil the jars, heat the mincemeat, put it in the hot jars, then process by boiling the mincemeat in the jars for 10 minutes. I made this mincemeat in November 2010 and used the last of it in December 2014 and it was fine that whole time following the instructions given in the recipe. I'm hoping you can clarify for me that it's safe for me to do the same this time, or whether I need to heat and process the mincemeat. If I have to heat and process it, will it make a difference to the mincemeat in any way? Thanks in advance.
goodfoodteam's picture
goodfoodteam
19th Nov, 2015
We have looked back to Barney's original recipe that first appeared in the magazine in 2004 and he recommends the following. Use Kilner jars with new rubber seals or jam jars with plastic coated lids (the fruit acid will attack metal ones). Wash the jars in hot soapy water, rinse, then dry in the oven (not the rubber seals) at 150C/130C fan/gas 2 for 10 mins. Fill while the jars are still warm. Looking at the ingredients the quantity of alcohol and sugar, plus salt (you can use 1/4 tsp), should allow you to keep this for a year in a cool dark place as there is not a high proportion of fresh apple. You could keep it for longer, as you have, but the oil in the nuts and suet may start to change flavour over time (go rancid). If you heated this, the suet would melt in the jar and the mincemeat would have a different texture. Once you open the mincemeat keep any left over in the fridge.
jaybaker
31st Oct, 2016
If you can't get shredded suet, freeze a block of unsalted butter and grate this as a substitute.
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