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
Odelle sent this message by email:
Hi Angharad, re: Best mincemeat recipes:-
I can’t see any problem at all leaving the mixture to stand for extra time, it’ll allow the full flavour to develop and may even improve it, if that’s possible………
No problems at all, so you go ahead with your mixture, I imagine that it will be beautiful, let us know though!
Happy Baking!
Lv Odelle.
Thanks for the quick reply I’ll give that a try and see what happens
Hi,
Does anyone know if you can leave the mixture in the Delia recipe to stand for a bit longer than 12 hours? I need to make mine tonight and then I am in work all day so will put it in the oven tomorrow evening. I’m hoping if someone know if leaving it for these 20 hours instead will spoil it or affect it at all. Thanks
Hi Angharad
I think that if its left to stand in the fridge it will be OK – no promises though.
I made my aunt’s mincemeat pie filling recipe over a year ago. It called for clean beef suet, raisins, apples, plum juice, currants, spices and a little bit of brandy. “Grind and refrigerate” is the last sentence. I know from family folklore that she used to let it sit for a year before she made her pies and they were always amazing. She is gone from us now and I am slightly hesitant to bake and eat this filling without her reassurance it will not poison anyone. It has not been cooked or sealed in sterilized jars but it seems to smell just fine, just like I remember. Any suggestions what I should do?
Hi thanks for the replies, i made the mincemeat and the smell was amazing! Can’t wait until i make the mince pies!!
Then in a couple of weeks i’m going to make the Christmas cake, can’t wait for that either!!
Phew, thats reassuring, thank you!
No, it didn’t taste, or smell, burnt, and once it was cooled and I’d added the brandy it looked a lot better. I’ve just put it into jars (and made the Christmas cake which is now in the oven) and I’m feeling a lot happier about it.
I think if I make it again I’m going to put fewer currants in and replace them with dried cranberries.
Hi Candy (29th September 2010),
My German friend tells me that “Boskopp” is the best apple variety for cooking with. That’s what I’m making my mincemeat with this year- they’re not quite as sour as Bramleys, but still pretty good.
I’ve just made Delia’s mincemeat and its sat cooling as I type.
Looking at it I’m quite scared that I’ve done something wrong as it seems to have gone very dark, it almost looks burnt.
If anything I put the oven slightly cooler than the recipe states, and I took the mincemeat out after 2 hours 40 minutes rather than leaving it for the full 3 hours.
Can someone reassure me that I’ve done it right?
Hi Cat
It sounds as if you’ve done it right. The mincemeat is quite dark. The key test is how does it taste. Does it taste burnt?
Hi Fn Cazzy,
I always add both ground almonds slivers of almonds to homemade mincemeat,Christmas cakes puddings as I do love the almonds, they give a good taste texture.I often omit currants,making up the amount of fruit with raisins sultanas. I don’t add mixed peel either preferring halved extra glace cherries instead.
I suppose in the end it’s down to personal preference taste, I do think that adding ground almonds is required though, as this is like adding flour to a cake.
I’m sure that your home-made Christmas will smell beautifully throughout your home with all those lovely ingredients cooking and wafting through the house!
MMMm…all butter sweet pastry encasing your own mincemeat filling it’ll be all good.
Sainsburys own sweet pastry is pricey but the nearest I’ve ever found to making your own if your pushed for time,great if your making pastry yourself!….
Good Luck,whichever you decide it’ll be far superior to any shop bought produce you will have the aroma of fruit,spices,pastries for that special smell we all associate with the holiday season.
Lv Odelle X.
Hi, I’m making mincemeat for the first time this year as i’m trying to have a truly homemade Christmas! I’m so looking forward to the delicions smells in the kitchen – and house!! – while everythings cooking, but was wondering if it would work as well with ground almonds instead of the almond slivers??
Thankyou
Hi Cazzy
I think that a lot of the texture would be lost.