recipes for home made mincemeat please

liz.._4

I have decided to make my own mince pies this year and thought of even making the mincemeat as I'm not sure what goes in the shop bought stuff. Trying to keep the a low fat/low sturated fat diet for health reasons too so suet is a bit of a no go area. I thought of veggie suet as it might be healthier? I looked in my Delia Smith Christmas cookbook but wondered if anyone has an easy peasy recipes for mincemeat? Also, does it really keep in the jars ok?
Thanks in advance

gooismeid

We go with Delia's recipe but we use veggie suet and use chopped apricots/cranberries instead of mixed peel, which we all hate in our household. You can also cut down on the amount of suet you put in, but it does need some fat in it otherwise the texture's a bit odd. Really the only faff is squeezing oranges and lemons and grating the zest - you just bung everything in a bowl, put in in the oven on a very low heat, leave it to cool, stir in large amounts of brandy or whatever alcohol you have lying around, and put it in sterilised jars. We've done this every year for the past 10 years now, you'll never go back to shop bought mincemeat again. And it keeps for ages! Our record was a jar that was 3 years old - it survived 2 house moves, and when we opened it it was just fine.

For diabetics you can also use apple spread (you can get it from Holland & Barrett, it's a sort of treacly apple stuff in a tub) instead of the brown sugar, it turns it all a really dark colour but tastes delish.

Edit: Hey, I've just noticed I'm now a regular! Cool!

growingafamily

any recipes for non-alcoholoic mince-meat, also Chrimbo cake and Chrimbo puds too (it can't have tea in it either - noticed supermarket ones have one or both !!! thanks

tanith

There is a post somewhere that says that Vegi or Light Suet is stuffed with Trans fats..... I will try and find it but don't hold your breath:rotfl:

Mercenary

My Grandmother's Recipe.

Christmas Mincemeat.

4oz Sultanas
4oz Currants
4oz Raisins
2 - 4oz Shredded Suet /or Ground Almonds (as preferred)
1 Small Banana, chopped small
1 Cox Apple, peeled and chopped small
2-3oz Cut Mixed Peel (try the whole crystallised stuff....yum!)
1 Tablespoon Black Treacle
4oz Caster Sugar
Grated Rind & Juice of 1 Lemon
Brandy, if desired.

Mix together and refrigerate for 3-4 weeks prior to using.

Bambam

Mercenary wrote:

My Grandmother's Recipe.

Christmas Mincemeat.

4oz Sultanas
4oz Currants
4oz Raisins
2 - 4oz Shredded Suet /or Ground Almonds (as preferred)
1 Small Banana, chopped small
1 Cox Apple, peeled and chopped small
2-3oz Cut Mixed Peel (try the whole crystallised stuff....yum!)
1 Tablespoon Black Treacle
4oz Caster Sugar
Grated Rind & Juice of 1 Lemon
Brandy, if desired.

Mix together and refrigerate for 3-4 weeks prior to using.

Do you have to use treacle? Not keen. Could I use something else?

Mercenary

My Grandmother's Xmas Pudding recipe from the 1920's.

This makes 4 pints of pudding, so half or quarter the amounts if you want smaller puds. She used to make these in August ...so the sooner, the better.
It comes out black with an extremely dense texture and very moist. Absolutely Wonderful!:D

8oz Stale Breadcrumbs
4oz Self Raising Flour
4oz Suet
4oz Barbados Sugar (very dark brown Molasses sugar)
2oz Ground Almonds
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 level teaspoon each of Nutmeg, Mixed Spice, Cinnamon, Ginger.
8oz each of Raisins, Sultanas, Currants.
4oz Chopped Prunes
4oz Chopped Dates
2oz Chopped Dried Apricots
4oz Chopped Mixed Peel
Juice and Rind of 1 Lemon
2 generous tablespoons of Black Treacle
4 Eggs, beaten lightly
1/2 pint of Guinness
1 wine-glassful of Brandy.

Mix together, cover and let it stand overnight, then next day, put mix into pudding bowls, cover the top with at least 3 layers of greased greaseproof paper and then wrap with a cloth tied at the top of the basin to help lift it in and out of the pan.cook the pudding by steaming it in a covered heavy-bottomed pan ( like a pressure cooker, but not sealed and NO weights) of boiling water. Add the water after the pudding is lowered into the pan until it's about 1/2-way up the bowl. Top up water level with boiling water when necessary.

A 2 pint pudding takes 8 hours steaming,
A 1 and-a-half pint pudding takes 7 hours steaming,
A 1 pint pudding takes 5 hours steaming.

Mercenary

Bambam wrote:

Do you have to use treacle? Not keen. Could I use something else?

You won't actually taste the Black Treacle. It just adds something special to the overall flavour.

If you really can't do it, I suppose you could try using very dark brown sugar instead. It just won't have as much gloopy texture. I think Golden Syrup would ruin it as it has a strong caramel flavour to it, so don't try that.

purpleimp

I hate mincemeat BUT I'm going to try something new and fancy this year, I saw a Jamie Oliver thing a while back where he made cinnamon swirl pie cases by rolling out the shortcrust really thin, covering it in cinnamon and brown sugar and rolling in into a tube and chilling it, he then cut slices of and rolled them out and popped them over wee upside down dishes and baked them in the oven and filled them with custard

Anyway I wont bother with making the cases like that, just make normal cases and use the cinamon swirls for the top.

The mincemeat plan is the real difference, like I say I hate mincemeat, there's something about rasins and sultanas that upsets me, they're just sad dead shriveled creations that don't have a patch on their former selves.

Anyway instead of using that lot what I intend to do is get a pack of dried cranberries ( I like these) dried apple and dried apricots, blitz up the apple and apricots, bung in some sugar, more cinnamon and brandy and fill the pies with that instead.

I haven't made these yet but I'm hoping they'll be a pleasant change, they might be a total disaster but let me know how you get on if you try them!

HTH.

Imp

xxx

Swan_2

this recipe substitutes apples for suet & makes a nice moist tangy mincemeat

1lb soft brown sugar
3/4 pint apple juice
4lb cooking apples, peeled, cored & chopped
1-2 teaspoons ground allspice
1-2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1lb currants
1lb raisins or sultanas (or a mixture)
rind & juice of 1 lemon

dissolve sugar in juice in large pan over gentle heat
add rest of ingredients & mix well
bring to boil & simmer for 30 minutes or till it's a soft mush
put into sterile jars & cover*
keeps 3 months in a cool dark place**

*I put some of mine into a sterile tupperware-style container & kept it in the fridge
** I found it actually keeps a lot longer than 3 months

Bambam

We love mincemeat heated up in the microwave and served with vanilla ice-cream. Hoping it will be even better with homemade mincemeat. :j