Dare I say that Christmas is coming!? The joy of making one’s own mincemeat, amongst other things, is the ability to make it totally personal and suit your tastes. I for example can’t stand candied peel, so I don’t use it. But I do like cranberries and apricots, so I add them. You can do as you like. This recipe is well tried and tested and so incredibly easy to do, it takes mere minutes of hands-on time (plus maturing time) and lasts for ages. This recipe makes about 1.5kg so plenty to get creative with
Ingredients
750g Dried Fruits. A good base is raisins and currents but add whatever you like. I have used dried apricots, cranberries, dates etc and the candied peel if the need takes you
250g Cooking Apples, peeled, cored and diced or grated
Juice of a Lemon
Juice of an Orange
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Allspice
½ tsp Nutmeg
250g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
250ml Brandy
125g Soft Butter
Method
1. Mix all the fruit in a large bowl with the spices and juices. Combine fully
2. In a small saucepan, gently heat the brandy, sugar and butter, stirring to dissolve the sugar and melt the butter. Don't boil, you need the alcohol, for preserving reasons...
3. Pour the liquid over the fruit, cover and leave to stand overnight
4. Next morning, pour into sterilised jars and seal for at least 3 weeks, but as I discovered, the longer the better!
5. Now make some mince pies and get festive!
Comments