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 Arlene
I’m sorry but I missed this comment. If this happened to me I’d gently heat it again to melt the suet and bottle it in hot, clean sterilised jars.
Hello Peter
Thank you for leaving such a positive comment, much appreciated.
This is a great website. Thank you for hosting it. I used to have a hobby farm in west Wales, but now live in California. Your receipes are great for ex-pats looking for a taste of home!
I’ll be back often.
HELP…….. I left my Maid to complete the mincemeat while we were out and on checking found that the suet had not melted. She had already added the Brandy. I do hope it will keep?!!!!
Hi Tina Q
Thank you very much for these tips. Next time I make this I’m definitely going to use Bramley apple sauce in the recipe.
People – you can replace suet with butter, same quantity. Also if you want to be sure about preserving it use a large jar of ready made bramley apple sauce in place of grated fresh apples. But take care to check the sweetness and possibly reducing the sugar to compensate. This will preserve your mincement perfectly aswell as giving it a nice moist texture and the real bonus is that it removes the need to slow cook the mincemeat and it will not explode, promise. T
Hi FN
thanks for your comment. I will now confidently go ahead and use it. I’ve about three jars left from last year.
Thanks for the idea of defrosting a bit of the suet and then smelling it Anna. Turns out my home grated beef fat was fine after a year in the freezer so good to know it keeps well. Just made this years batch of Delias mincemeat which smells great – next stop the lemond gin recipe as we’ve missed the sloes this year.
Hi Arlene
My ‘Delia’ mincemeat always looks a bit dry in the jars but when warm looks and tastes great. No other ideas for storing it I’m afraid.
I have used Delia’s mincemeat recipe for years but we have now retired to Sri Lanka where I find it difficult to store the mincemeat. I freeze it but it seems to dry out. Any advice? I still use Delia’s recipe! By the way passing the suet through the mincer a couple or three times works just as well as grating it and is MUCH EASIER!
Hi Sarah
I think Delia’s recipe is excellent and it keeps for years! I reckon that the beef fat would probably be fine after a year – annajp is right it would smell rancid if it’s not.
Hi Annajp
Thanks for leaving this helpful comment. I had no idea how much isn’t available in France.