Christmas Mince Pies

After I published Holly, Baubles and Murder, many of my readers emailed with wonderful memories of tasting mince pies.

Others, after reading about Meg, Lord Abermarle’s cook, asked how they were made.

When I was in Kenya, running my cafe and farm shop, I produced upwards of 1,000 mince pies each year, along with Christmas cakes and puddings.

This is my recipe, making my own mincemeat, although in the UK you can buy ready-made jars of it.

Ingredients

3 or 4 apples, cored and chopped small (no need to peel them)

50g/ 2oz/ ½ cup ground almonds

4 level teaspoons mixed ground spice

½ level teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

6 tablespoons brandy (optional but this adds the richness and taste of Christmas)

225g/ 8oz/ 1¾ cups suet (or butter or cooking margarine)

800g/ 28oz /4 cups dried fruit – a mix of raisins, sultanas and currants

225gm/ 8oz/ 3 cups orange and lemon candied peel (or chopped dried apricots, dates, or candied pineapple)

350g/ 12oz/ 1½ cups (soft dark) brown sugar

Grated zest and juice of 3 or 4 oranges

Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons

Method

Combine all the ingredients, except the brandy, in a large bowl and mix until they are thoroughly combined.

If you have time, cover, and leave the ingredients in a cool place for 4 to 12 hours, so the flavours have time to merge together.

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark ¼, 225^oF,110^oC.

Tip the mixture into a large high-sided metal baking sheet or tin, and loosely cover with aluminium foil. Place it in the oven for 2 hours or until the mixture is dark in colour. I prefer to under rather than overcook it.

The mincemeat will probably be swimming in oil but don’t worry, stir it as it cools and it will reabsorb the fat. When cold, add the brandy and mix again.

The mixture can be stored in sterilised jars in a cool dark place for a long time. I’ve used it for my mince pies the year after making the mixture.

An extra step I usually take is to blend the mixture, just to break it up so it’s easier to fill the pastry cases.

Mince Pies

Buy or make butter shortcrust pastry. Use either a 12, 18 or 24 bun/muffin tray and cut $1 thick circles of pastry to fill each indentation.

Fill each pastry case with mincemeat. It does bubble up, so I recommend about 2/3^rd full. Don’t overfill them. The top of the ‘pie’ can either be a full circle, or I prefer a star shape as it increases the mincemeat to pastry ratio, as well as looking festive.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the oven at gas mark 6, 400^oF, 200^oC until the pastry is golden brown.

When cool you can sprinkle with icing, confectioners or powdered sugar, or caster sugar.

Serve hot or cold.

I like to eat them with brandy butter.