For those who may not be familiar with it mincemeat is a mixture of dried fruit, spices & distilled spirits which is traditionally used in English mince pies that are served for Christmas. Mincemeat used to be made with meat but it now made with beef or vegetable suet. This recipe uses vegetable suet as its lower in fat than the meat equivalent but if you only have meat suet on hand then use that.
This mixture needs to be made at least 2 weeks before you need it to give the whiskey a chance to soak into everything and for the flavours to develop. You could always use other spirits if you prefer, brandy is the most common used.
This recipe only takes about 10 minutes (if that) to make and makes a great Christmas present for friends & family. Be sure to sterilise your jars & it will keep for up to 6 months.
Recipe adapted from BBC Good Food
Makes approx. 4 500ml jars
You will need-
- 1 Bramley Apple
- 300g raisins
- 300g currants
- 300g shredded vegetarian suet
- 250g dark muscovado sugar
- 50g coarsely chopped almonds- I broke mine up in a pestle & mortar
- 85g mixed chopped peel
- A pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
- A pinch of mixed spice
- Grated zest & juice of 1 lemon
- 100ml whisky
- 4 Bay leaves
Begin by peeling and grating your apple and then put it to one side. Next, in a large bowl mix together the raisins, currants, suet, sugar, nuts, peel, spices, lemon zest & juice and then stir through the grated apple. Now pour over the whiskey & give everything a good mix to insure it is all coated in the spirit.
Spoon the mixture into your sterilised jars (make sure they're cool otherwise the suet will melt) Finally tuck a bay leaf into each jar and seal.
In 2 weeks time I will be sharing a recipe for mince pies and also fancy having a go at some eccles cakes using the mincemeat as a filling.
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