Mincemeat
After making my Christmas Cake and Christmas Pudding you will no doubt have lots of dried fruit leftover. This is the perfect way to use it all and make your own mincemeat ready to make mince pies over Christmas. Although there are measurements below - treat this recipe as a guide. If you want to add a little more or less fruit in to use up any leftovers go for it. Just balance that out with a bit more or less alcohol and suet until the consistency is right.
Method
It really couldn’t be simpler. In your biggest bowl combine all the ingredients, giving them a really good stir so they are all combined. The mixture should be fairly loose, with a small amount of alcohol at the bottom of the bowl.
Once combined spoon the mixture into your sterilised jars and pop into a cool, dry place until you are ready to use it. Make sure some of the alcohol ends up in every jar, and over the first day flip the jar up-side down and right-side up 2-3 times to ensure that all the fruit can absorb some of the alcohol.
You should wait at least 2 weeks to allow the flavours to develop, and it will last for up to 6 months.
Ingredients
150g sultanas
75g currants
75g raisins
100g dried cranberries
250g prunes, roughly chopped
50g glacé or maraschino cherries, halved
75g mixed peel
50g almonds, chopped
zest of 1 orange
zest of 1 lemon
2 small bramley apples, grated
150g dark soft brown sugar
100g vegetarian suet
1tsp ground cloves
1tsp mixed spice
1tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1tsp ground allspice
2tsp ground ginger
150ml port
1 shot whiskey
You will also need some sterilised jars. The easiest way to do this is to run them through a hot dishwasher cycle.
Top tips
This really is a guide, you can use almost any dried fruits you like in a mincemeat. Sour cherries or dried apricot are both lovely additions. Dried mangoes and a dark, spiced rum go so well together.
Feel free to leave stuff out too. Don’t like candied peel or nuts in a mincemeat? Replace them with something else.
If you would like to make a non-alcoholic version then fruit juices work well. Orange, clementine, or pomegranate juice are all good choices. The mincemeat won'‘t keep without the alcohol though so only make this version a day or two ahead of when you need it and keep it in the fridge.
