I was going to make some mince pies for Christmas in any case - but in another thread the idea of making them without apple was raised. See Very restricted diet Mincemeat for Mince Pie. So - I thought I'd just leave apples out and see what happened. Really, you wouldn't taste the difference if the apple is absent! Mincemeat is not a 'set' recipe. Its basically dried fruits steeped in alcohol (or fruit juice) with suet added. The choice of fruit is up to you. I adapted this mincemeat recipe from James Martin: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/13377/traditional-mincemeat
Photographed today in natural light
Ingredients
Ingredients
- Shortcrust pastry
- 250g golden raisins
- 200g currants
- 200g sultanas
- 100ml whisky
- zest of 1 lemon and juice of ½
- 300g shredded suet (I used vegetarian suet)
- 250g dark brown sugar
- 85g chopped mixed peel
- ½ small nutmeg, grated
- Soak the raisins, currants and sultanas in the whisky and lemon juice for 1 hr (or overnight) until plumped up, then drain.
- Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, suet, sugar, mixed peel and nutmeg. Mix well.
- Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7.
- Roll out the pastry and cut out rounds. Line the holes in a muffin tin with the pastry.
- Fill each round with mincemeat and top with shapes of pastry or a smaller round.
- Brush with beaten egg.
- Bake the pies for 15-20 mins until golden brown. Leave to cool before releasing them from the muffin trays and dusting with icing sugar.
