Best mincemeat recipe for mince pies and puddings
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Christmas, Desserts | 108 comments
Mince pies are the quintessential Christmas treat. But every year loads of us bite into a proffered mince pie and resolve never to accept one again. it’s a shame as nothing beats a homemade one, bursting with mincemeat and a slug of brandy. I always make a few on Christmas Eve. I was pretty smug about them until Anne Mary mentioned that she always made her own mincemeat. I’m embarrassed to admit this but five years ago I didn’t know that you could make your own. I rushed home and thumbed through our cookbooks, convinced that it would be a complicated grinding, sieving, mincing process. It’s not. It’s really easy.
There was one major drawback, most of the recipes that I found produced mincemeat with a short shelf life. The apples often start to ferment after a couple of months. I didn’t want to make just the one jar or a batch to give away labeled “Unstable contents. Eat me within two months as I might explode”.
Then I struck gold, Delia Smith’s ‘Complete Illustrated Cookery Course’ includes a recipe that solves the fermentation problem. We have tweaked it over the years and now just stick to the original with one exception. We replace the candied peel (we are not fans) with halved glacé cherries (we’re addicted to these). We add the cherries with the brandy when the mincemeat comes out of the oven and has cooled down. Delia’s mincemeat recipe is simple to make and absolutely delicious. Luckily she has published the recipe on her website and the link is here.
Great mincemeat is not just for mince pies at Christmas. Delia has a lot of recipe ideas for puddings on her site that are worth checking out. Danny stuffed cooking apples with a jar of mincemeat that he found loitering in the fridge. Baked for for 40 minutes in a moderate oven they have become one of our favourite puds at this time of year.
Tips and tips:
- If you are pressed for time you can adapt shop bought mincemeat by adding a small handful of halved glacé cherries and sultanas soaked overnight in brandy. Always add a teaspoon of brandy to shop mince pies. The best shop bought mince pies are the luxury ones from M&S and Waitrose.
- Update November 2009:
- As Delia says the mincemeat has a really long shelflife. I opened a jar from our 2006 batch tonight and it’s fine!
Leave a reply
hello sarah. there is a recipe for suet free mincemeat in nigella lawson’s domestic goddess book. i did it a few years ago and it was good. Atora brand vegetable suet comes in 250g packets with long use by dates – i could post you some. i only grated my own suet once and have used atora since then.
the suet in the freezer will probably be fine, but if you defrost a little bit and smell it, you’ll know if it’s okay as fat beginning to go rancid has a distinctive pong.
I’ve made Delia’s recipe for the last two years as I can’t get mincemeat in the shops here in France. I also can’t buy suet but finally found one butcher who gave me some beef fat that I put in the freezer and then grate. He couldn’t believe I was going to make something sweet with it! It’s a bit of a drag though and I’m wondering whether I can leave the suet out this year? Also, whether the suet I grated last year and froze in December 2008 is likely to be OK to use this year? Any ideas?
I usually make my mince pies and freeze them uncooked. They are almost instant when you want them – well 20 mins, but always freshly baked to order and no need to worry about the mincemeat keeping. I don’t use nay fat in mine but lots of alcohol.
after you make the mincement you can always freeze what youj don’t need. won’t hurt it a bit and it removes all worry about it spoiling…
Thank you for your prompt reply! Great web site which I will be back to browse soon!
I will try the mincemaet recipe tomorrow, hope all goes well!
Hi Caroline
Yes it would store well in the fridge. If you do find some jars it last for ages, as Delia says. It will look cloudy but it will be safe to eat and look fine in mince pies.
Hi, We live on an Island and the local shops have run out of jars of mincemeat! For my husband and I christmas will not be the same without mincepies. I was ready to despair and then thought…make your own! Well I do not have any jars for storage so if I made a half quantity of Delia’s recipe would it store in the fridge for a couple of days in plastic storage tubs?
Thank you for your advice. I went for the Le Parfait jars in the end as we had a few rattling around. I made my first batch of mince pies with homemade mincemeat and they were delicious! Like Christmas pudding wrapped in pastry – yum.
Hi Fiona.
Long time no visit you, but always a great pleasure. To remember my time over UK, YU always make the English christmas pudding. This year I decided to switch to mince pies for us, family and friends. I´ve just store my mincemeat today, altough it´s a bit late, I guess it´ll do fine by Christmas day, and much better for Epiphany.
We´re all looking forward to give them a try 🙂
Thanks
Hi Anna
I put the cold mincemeat into warm sterilised jars and this seems to do the trick (ordinary jars with plastic lined metal lids. It keeps for years.
Delia is using Le Parfait jars. They’d be fine too!