Christmas Mincemeat- pies and tarts

[ThistleDown]

Anybody have a good recipe they care to share?

As requested, Terry.

5 or 6 medium green apples peeled, cored and coarsely grated
12oz raisins
8oz sultanas
8oz currants
8oz mixed candied peel chopped finely
12oz soft demerarra sugar
zest and juice of 2 oranges
zest and juice of 2 lemons
2oz skinned almonds chopped fine
4 teaspoons mixed spice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ nutmeg grated
6 tablespoons brandy (oops, slipped again this year)
8oz shredded suet.

Mix all the ingredients together except the brandy. Grate the apples directly into the orange juice, so that they don’t discolour.

Cover the bowl with foil and leave everything to soak together for at least 12 hours. Then put the bowl in a low oven (225F) for 3 hours to gradually melt the suet and coat all the ingredients. This will prevent fermentation if you are going to be storing the mincemeat for a long time. Allow it to cool, then mix in the brandy and pack into clean dry jars almost to the brim. Seal well and store in a dark, cool place.

It needs at least a week for the flavours to meld and develop, so make it well in advance. We plan for a damp day in November and a kitchenful of folk pitching in. We used to sort and clean all the raisins and currants for bits of stem, but that’s done by some machine at a packing plant now. We do like the tradition, though and there’s always some warmed brandy for the adults and mulled apple juice for others.

If you follow this recipe you will have enough mincemeat for about six dozen tarts, enough to keep you going over the Christmas season.

Oh yes, we do make two or three Christmas puddings at the same time, but that’s another recipe.