Christmas isn’t Christmas without a mince pie and this makes for a great gift to take to Christmas lunch as well as homemade favours.
Makes enough to fill 80 mince pies
Cooking: Uncooked mincemeat 25-30 minutes or Cooked mincemeat 2 hours and 30 minutes
Active Time: 25-30 minutes.
What You’ll Need:
- 100g dried cranberries
- 200g cooked Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts, chopped to
- the size of the cranberries
- 120g dried figs, tips trimmed then chopped to the size of the
- cranberries
- 100g dates, chopped to the size of the cranberries
- 100g prunes, chopped to the size of the cranberries
- 100g suet, or vegetable suet
- 100g candied peel
- 1 & 1/4 tsp mixed spice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- Grated zest and juice of 3 large tangerines or oranges
- 150g dark brown sugar
- 1 large Bramley apple, unpeeled, coarsely grated
- 5 tablespoons Merchant Gourmet Vinegar Glaze, brandy or
- rum
What To Do:
- Preheat your oven to 120c/Fan 100c/Gas 1/2
- Get an oven proof bowl or baking dish with raised sides. Add all of the mincemeat ingredients. Mix them together. (If you are doing the uncooked version, just mix and put in the fridge) Cover with foil. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 2 hours.
- If you are putting the mincemeat in jars, do so while it is hot, you will then have a thin layer of suet that rises to the top, which will effectively seal the mincemeat inside the jars.
- If you are using the mincemeat in the near future just leave it to cool in the baking dish, give it a good stir, then cover it with clingfilm and put in the fridge.
Cook’s Tips:
- The cooked mincemeat will keep almost indefinitely, so feel free to double the recipe or just scale the recipe up to use all of the dried fruit from whichever your size your packets come in. The uncooked mincemeat will keep for at least a couple of weeks.
By Alex Mackay the Merchant Gourmet Chef