Traditional Mincemeat – Make The Most Of It!

Mincemeat – a mixture of fruit, spices, sugar
and quite possibly a little alcohol.

The other day whilst sorting books that had been donated to Cornwall Hospice Care  I picked up a very torn and tatty Woman’s Magazine for December 1935.  It includes an article on recipes using mincemeat so, it being out of copyright, I believe, I am going to pass these on together with some of my own ideas.

Mince Pies

Here is their recipe …

I would make a couple of changes to this; use butter instead of lard and add the finely grated zest of an orange (no white pith) to the pastry.  Also they seem to have omitted the brandy from the mincemeat!

Mincemeat Scones

It occurred to me (I’m a slow thinker) that I could make Christmassy scones using my genius scone recipe and some mincemeat.

225g/8oz self-raising flour
a pinch of salt
60g/2½oz cold butter or margarine
25g/1oz caster sugar
80g mincemeat
80ml/3 fl oz milk

~   Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/180C fan/gas 6.
~   Stir together the flour and salt.
~   Add the butter or margarine and “rub in” with your fingers until a breadcrumb texture is achieved.
~   Stir in the sugar once you have finished rubbing in; if you add it earlier it’s uncomfortable on the hands although, of course, it does exfoliate.
~   Add the milk and mix in, by hand is easiest, and then gently mix in the mincemeat. Add a little more milk if too dry or a little more flour if too wet – work just enough to form a soft dough.
~   On a floured surface press or roll the dough out to about 1½cm/½” thick and using a cookie cutter cut into rounds. Or you could cut into squares which are easier and more economical on time: no re-rolling. They look quite good too. 
~   Transfer the scones to a greased baking try, brush their tops with a little milk and bake in the oven till risen and golden – about 15 minutes. 
~   Transfer to a cooling rack but eat while still warm topped with lashings of clotted cream if possible.

Speaking of Scones and Clotted Cream …

Christmas Cream Tea

Simply replace the jam in a cream tea with mincemeat.  Obviously, the mincemeat goes first topped by the clotted cream – see here for the scientific reasoning behind the jam first theory!

Mincemeat Ice Cream

This is just one of six, happily no-churn, Christmas Ice Creams I have devised.

Warm Boozy Mincemeat Sauce

This is perfect for ice cream!

180g mincemeat
150g soft light brown sugar
juice and zest of one orange
60ml rum or brandy

~ Gently stir together all the ingredients over low heat till amalgamated and hot. That’s it!

Mincemeat Cheesecake

See here for my basic no-cook cheesecake recipe  and where I mention “something else” add brandy or rum to the mix. Use crushed ginger biscuits instead of digestives and add a layer or two of mincemeat. 

On the same page there is also a recipe for a delicious baked cheesecake recipe which would be good topped with the above sauce, but fairly cool!

Christmas Apple Crumble

Serves 3-4

4 medium cooking apples – preferably Bramleys
3 tbsp mincemeat
1 tbsp soft light brown sugar
240g plain flour
pinch salt
160g butter
120g soft light brown sugar

~ Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350°F/160ºC fan/gas 4.
~ Peel and slice the apples into an ovenproof dish.
~ Stir in the mincemeat and the tablespoon of sugar.
~ Rub the butter into the flour together with the pinch of salt then stir in the 120g of sugar.
~ Loosely pile this on top of the apples, level the surface, make a pattern if you feel like it and bake for about 30-40 minutes till the apples have collapsed and are tender and the top is golden brown.

Mincemeat Pinwheels

~ Preheat the oven to 190ºC/375ºF/170ºC fan/gas 5 and lightly grease a baking tray.
~ Roll puff pastry into a rectangle. 
~ Spread with mincemeat.
~ Roll up the pastry from one long edge, moisten the far edge and seal the roll.
~ Slice the roll, somewhat on the diagonal is good, and lay cut side up (and down!) on the baking tray.
~ Bake till the pastry is crisp and golden – about 20 minutes.

Or try this from Woman’s Magazine …

Eccles Cakes

This looks good to me and is a great way of using up leftover  pastry scraps too!  Here are some more ideas for leftover pastry.

Mincemeat Flapjacks

180g butter
120g mincemeat
30g soft dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest
250g porridge oats

~ Preheat the oven to 160ºC/325°F/140ºC fan/gas 3.
~ Grease a 20cm square (or similar) cake tin.
~ Melt together everything but the oats over low heat, stirring occasionally. 
~ Stir in the oats and decant the mixture into the cake tin.
~ Bake for about 25 minutes till the top is golden.
~ Allow to cool for about 10 minutes before cutting into squares or bars or whatever.
~ Cool on a rack.

Mincemeat Bread and No Butter Pudding!

This is based on traditional bread and butter pudding but it enough it doesn’t contain butter other than for greasing the pan.  This means you can use random pieces of bread rather than neat slices.

100g-150g stale bread in small chunks
3 tablespoons mincemeat
180ml milk
100ml double cream
1 tbsp brandy
2 eggs
75g caster sugar

~   Put the bread into a lightly greased ovenproof dish or divide between ramekins.
~    Stir the 3 tablespoons of marmalade to liquefy and then drizzle over the bread. Turn the bread around in it.
~   Whisk together all the other ingredients and pour over pushing the bread under the surface to soak it. Set aside for 30 minutes or more – even overnight will do.
~   Preheat oven to 350˚F/180˚C/160˚C Fan/gas 4.
~   Bake for about 40 minutes till risen, golden and slightly wobbly when nudged.
~   Sprinkle with sugar or icing sugar.

Serve hot, warm or cold but warm is best.

3 Christmas Breakfast Ideas

1.  Porridge – why not stir some mincemeat (and perhaps a little brandy and cream!) into your porridge, after all it is Christmas.  See here for some more ideas for porridge, suitable for all year.
2.  Yogurt – as above but not sure about brandy and yogurt? Let me know if you try it!
3. Pancakes

See here for more Christmas Breakfasts so good the
presents can wait till later!

Mincemeat Pancakes 

Here is another recipe in the Woman’s Magazine article:

A gill is about 140ml.

This looks more like an American style pancake recipe to me! Here’s how to make all sorts of pancakes including how to add things such as mincemeat.

There are several other recipes in the magazine (one of which is no longer politically correct!) but these are the most appealing, I think.

Oh, and see here for Delia’s Mincemeat Soufflés! 

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