Mince pies are the cornerstone of Christmas treats along with gingerbread ( but that’s a post for another day) . Homemade mince pies are so much better than the shop bought variety and taking it one step further, making your own mincemeat, will make them the best mince pies you have ever tasted!
I know that you can buy ready made mincemeat in jars, but its so easy to make and tastes so much better, why wouldn’t you?
The term ‘mincemeat’ has its roots in the medieval period as mince pies were exactly that, a MEAT pie with a few pieces of dried fruit and a tiny bit of spice. This was because these commodities were extremely expensive and so adding them to your food at Christmas was a way of showing off your wealth to your guests. As these became more available over time the price came down and people began adding more and more to the pies, eventually the only ‘meat’ added is in the form of suet to the fruit and spice mix.
I have made an original recipe mincemeat pie from an original medieval recipe and its actually really good, but for this recipe we shall go with a more modern interpretation.
Ingredients:
- 400g dried mix fruit
- 100g suet
- 1tbsp lemon juice
- 200g chopped bramley apple
- 150g dark brown sugar
- 2tsp mixed spice
- A dash of Brandy
Method:
This is perhaps the easiest recipe you will ever come across.
- First measure out all of the ingredients
- Next put them all into a large bowl and stir to combine.
Thats it!
This mixture is ready to use in your mince pies. You can make a bumper batch of mince pies at this point or you can decant into jars and give as gifts to your friends.
I hope you enjoy making some mince pies this Christmas. Let me know in the comments if you liked this recipe.
Merry Christmas
Sam x
Great!
Im so pleased you liked this recipe