It is so simple to make home-made mincemeat, it’s a wonder anyone pops down to the shop to buy this Christmas classic at all! It takes only about 15 minutes to knock up a large supply of mincemeat that will see the discerning cook well into Christmas and beyond.
This recipe is extremely easy to do, so could be used to keep the kids busy over the Christmas period. However, it does benefit from a long spell if storage time, so November is the ideal time to get the ingredients together and prepare, ready for the Christmas period.
Mincemeat can be used in mince pies, obviously, but also comes in handy for a number of other dishes. Try stuffing baked apples with it, pushing it in to the centre of each cored apple before baking. This recipe also makes a lovely flan filling with a latticed short crust pastry lid.
Ingredients for the Mincemeat Filling
- 1 lb (500 g) Cooking apples peeled and cored
- 24 0z (750g) Mixed Fruit (raisins sultanas currents)
- 3 oz (75g) Mixed Peel
- 8oz (250g) Demerara Sugar
- ½ Tsp Ground Nutmeg
- ½ Tsp Mixed Spice ground
- ½ Tsp Cinnamon ground
- 1 Orange fresh
- 1 Lemon Fresh
- 6 Tbsp Dark Rum
Method for Preparing the Mincemeat
- Finely chop the apples.
- Mix with the dried fruit, sugar and spices in a large bowl.
- Add the grated rind and juice of the orange and lemon and the rum. Mix well.
- Pack into large jars and press well down. The less air there is in the jars, the better the mixture will keep. Cover the jars.
- Store in a dark cupboard. After about a week, open the jars, press the contents down thoroughly and reseal. By this time the sugar will have drawn some of the water out of the apples and the mincemeat will have started to form its characteristic rich dark sticky juices.
- Try to press all the fruit down so that the juices just cover the fruit, as it seems to keep better this way (the sugar liquid acts as a preservative in the same way as in jam).
- Leave in a dark cupboard for 3-4 weeks to mature, then use in mince pies
This mixture will keep for at least two months if stored in airtight containers in a dark place. Making mincemeat at home will help to beat the credit crunch for Christmas, and makes mince pies that bit more special, when you have the satisfaction of knowing they are completely home made.
If making mince pies, try giving them as gifts, placed in colourful Christmas boxes lined with tissue paper and tied with festive red ribbon.
