Mincemeat recipes
Homemade mincemeat is the perfect ingredient for all your Christmas baking and makes a lovely Christmas gift all by itself.
Mincemeat, the traditional filling for mince pies, is a spiced preserve made of a mixture of dried fruit, apple, suet and candied fruit and spices steeped in rum or brandy. It has been part of British cookery for centuries and did originally contain meat, though now the only meat present is in the suet.
Making this suet-free, gluten-free mincemeat is as easy as throwing the ingredients into a bowl and letting them sit overnight. The smell is absolutely heavenly.
More mincemeat recipes
Buyer's guide
There are some excellent ready-made versions available (including ones made with vegetarian suet) but nothing beats homemade, and it’s very simple to make.
Preparation
Mincemeat often requires an overnight soak in the alcohol, often brandy, to plump up the dried fruit. Some recipes require a cooking stage, to heat the mincemeat through and help to seal the jars. Others simply use the mincemeat within a few weeks. Mincemeat is often made on Stir-up Sunday, the last Sunday before advent.
Mincemeat does not require suet, you can use frozen grated butter or a fruit puree to help make them juicy. Suet tends to have a flour coating, so butter is a good substitution if you need to make your mincemeat gluten-free. Mincemeat does not require alcohol either, and you can substitue orange juice in its stead.
If you want to give a little life to some shop bought mincemeat, try adding a little grated orange zest, some chopped marzipan or a few nuts to the mixture. A little extra brandy, kirsch or rum would also work well.
