Rinse apples, orange and lemon under cool water then tamp dry. Zest both the orange and lemon reserving zest to the side. Then juice the orange and lemon and reserve to the side. Peel and core apples, then roughly slice.
Prepare ingredients: Using a food processor fitted with a grater attachment, run machine on low speed to grate apples. Remove and replace shred attachment with blade attachment. Add 1 cup of the golden raisins and 1 cup of the black currants.
* Reserve the remaining ½ cups of raisins and currants to the side.
Add the almonds, mixed peel, sugar, orange and lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and kosher salt. Lastly, pour in the juices. Place the lid on the machine and run on a moderate setting to finely chop the mixture. Stop machine to scrape down side of canister at least once.
Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the reserved raisins and currants, then pour over the melted butter and cognac. Stir to combine.
Cover then transfer to a cool location to allow flavours to mature for at least 24 hours, although waiting 1 week or more yields more robust flavours.hough.
To store for longer, transfer to sterilized jars and use in your favourite recipes, consuming with 3 months.
Festive Mincemeat Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup raisins (158g)
1½ cups golden raisins (230g)*
1½ cups dried black currants (222g)*
2 medium Ontario apples
⅔ cup slivered almonds (106g)
½ cup mixed peel (120g)
1 navel orange
1 lemon
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed (120g)
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon each cloves and allspice
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cup cognac or brandy, rum works too!
Directions
Rinse apples, orange and lemon under cool water then tamp dry. Zest both the orange and lemon reserving zest to the side. Then juice the orange and lemon and reserve to the side. Peel and core apples, then roughly slice.
Prepare ingredients: Using a food processor fitted with a grater attachment, run machine on low speed to grate apples. Remove and replace shred attachment with blade attachment. Add 1 cup of the golden raisins and 1 cup of the black currants.
* Reserve the remaining ½ cups of raisins and currants to the side.
Add the almonds, mixed peel, sugar, orange and lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and kosher salt. Lastly, pour in the juices. Place the lid on the machine and run on a moderate setting to finely chop the mixture. Stop machine to scrape down side of canister at least once.
Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the reserved raisins and currants, then pour over the melted butter and cognac. Stir to combine.
Cover then transfer to a cool location to allow flavours to mature for at least 24 hours, although waiting 1 week or more yields more robust flavours.hough.
To store for longer, transfer to sterilized jars and use in your favourite recipes, consuming with 3 months.
Festive Mincemeat Recipe
5 / 5. 3
An assortment of fruit, berries, apples, citrus juice and zest, almonds, candied citrus peel, spices, butter and cognac…
This festive MINCEMEAT RECIPE is a holiday classic!
This post goes out to all the holiday bakers, sweet-treat makers and generous seasonal gift givers looking to take the festive season from simple to amazing with a tried-and-true MINCEMEAT RECIPE. In a nutshell, mincemeat is a unique, seasonal confection highly coveted for its distinctive flavour and many ways to enjoy. One additional reason we love it so is its relatively easy process. We’re now thinking it an essential ingredient for holiday recipes, especially around Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, and beyond.
In this post, we share:
The key ingredients needed to make a rich, flavourful batch of mincemeat that’s way better than store-bought.
Our process – no cooking involved in this recipe!
Why mincemeat is better when made well in advance.
This vegetarian-friendly version of the classic recipe varies slightly from the centuries-old traditional mincemeat made with suet and either beef or lamb.
We’ll share suggestions on how to use mincemeat in your holiday dessert recipes.
Here then are all the details on our favourite MINCEMEAT RECIPE:
INGREDIENTS
We started this recipe like Old Mother Hubbard; the cupboard was bare. Well, we did have all of the spices needed in the pantry, but the dried fruit and nuts did require a special trip to purchase. We suggest looking for the raisins, yellow raisins, mixed peel (AKA candied mixed peel) and slivered almonds at a bulk food store or dry goods store. Please note, we’ve listed the quantities needed by both measure (mainly accurate) and by weight (most accurate). Finding the rest of the ingredients—citrus, apples, butter and your spirit of choice—is easy.
FRAGRANT SPICES
The spice profile is one of the hallmarks of mincemeat, and our festive MINCEMEAT RECIPE is made using a number of classic holiday spices. Similar to other holiday treats like GINGERBREAD COOKIESand CHOCOLATE SPICE COOKIES, this recipe contains cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. For best results, maximize that heady, fragrant spice profile and use the freshest ground spices you can find. If that means zipping up crushed cinnamon and whole allspice, and cloves in a spice mill or coffee grinder, do it. If you’re thinking, “It’s time I get one of those nifty nutmeg graters”, do that too.
Last thing about spices is an invitation to make this recipe your own. Feel free to add small quantities of other spices like black pepper, mace, cardamom, coriander and ginger.
FRESH FRUIT
The above photo might not look like much, but there’s always more to the story. So, for our version of this holiday confection, you’ll need two apples, an orange and a lemon. For the apples: your choice, but I’ve made the recipe using Honeycrisps, McIntosh apples and Ambrosia apples – all worked perfectly. Make sure to peel and core the apples before grating the flesh. This helps the apple break down and meld with the sugar, spices, butter and cognac as the mixture ages. For the lemon and orange, it’s about that microplane. Both the zests and juices from these two favourite citrus varieties get added to mincemeat, lending aromatic, punchy flavouring. Adding fresh fruit to mincemeat might be this recipe’s game changer!
DRIED FRUIT AND NUTS
The dried fruit and blanched, slivered almonds are what give this mincemeat recipe both flavour and texture. They also give the finished product lots of colour variations. We used golden raisins, sometimes referred to as sultanas. Head HERE to learn more about different varieties and colours, including Zante currants, a grape variety known for its tangy tart flavours. Additionally, we added dried black currants into our MINCEMEAT RECIPE and love the sweetness and tiny size.
You’ll also notice us adding mixed peel into our ingredient list. This sweetened, candy-preserved peel mixture increases the citrus notes as it contains orange peel, citron, orange zest and lemon zest. Please note, we didn’t include prunes, dried cherries, cranberries or dates in this recipe as they’re usually added to versions made with meat and suet.
USING A FOOD PROCESSOR
In the VIDEO shot for this post, I mention Victorian cooks and how they’d be rolling over in their graves with me using a food processor to mince the ingredients. Of course, we could have chopped the dried fruit, nuts and peel by hand, but it seemed like way too much work. Doing so would also increase the time required to mince up the “meat”, in this case, the fruits and nuts. We found spilling everything, including the spices, dark brown sugar and kosher salt into the canister of a food processor fitted with a blade attachment, way more manageable.
Adding the lemon juice, grated apple and orange juice into the canister further assists by giving the ingredients just the right amount of liquid. They chop up perfectly with the machine running on a low speed. P.S.: If you want to do this step by hand, have at it; the Ghost of Christmas Past will love it!
MIXING EVERYTHING TOGETHER
Mixing everything to complete the steps detailed below is easy. Spill the reserved whole yellow raisins and whole black currants into the chopped mixture and add the melted butter and cognac (or brandy or rum) into a large bowl. If you’d like to make this recipe without alcohol, swap the spirits with apple cider. Stir thoroughly, and we’re done. Actually, not quite. Read on!
AGED FLAVOURS
Here’s the holiday reality check: it’s busy, right? So, if you need to make this homemade MINCEMEAT RECIPE and then use the mixture straight away, go ahead. But if you really want to maximize the flavour, just wait. We suggest transferring the finished mixture into a large sterilized jar, sealing it and leaving it to mature and age in the fridge or a cold pantry for at least a week before using it in your favourite holiday recipe. Good news is that mincemeat stored this way will last for at least 3 months. It’s far more likely to get used up and enjoyed, though, in short order. One final note about the ageing period, some folks have been known to add a bit more cognac or brandy into the mix as it matures. Again, make this recipe your own, so if you like a stronger spirit flavour *hic* you do you!
ENJOY
I’ll end with the simple instruction, “Enjoy!” Speaking from experience, I know you will, whether you’re making pie filling, tarts or another holiday treat. That said, how about a few suggestions to enjoy this MINCEMEAT RECIPE? First, let’s keep it simple and just add a spoonful or two over a premium vanilla ice cream. Next, and we’ll be posting this recipe soon, make classic miniature mince pies; so inviting on a tray of HOLIDAY COOKIES. But our favourite way might be in our incredible MINCEMEAT FRANGIPANE TART, recipe coming soon.
Don’t forget, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s are also a time for giving. You can spoon quantities of mincemeat into small keepsake jars. Then tag it with a holiday greeting and give it as gifts to co-workers, friends, family and acquaintances. They’ll be able to make their own mincemeat pie. Spread the love by sharing our MINCEMEAT RECIPE with the world; it will guarantee happy holidays, for sure!
Speaking of love, send some our way and subscribe to our monthly newsletter HERE where we share our top recipes and give a sneak peek at upcoming posts. You’ll also receive Gather, our mid-month missive focused on ideas to entertain family and friends.
Enjoy this MINCEMEAT RECIPE with our compliments of the season!
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Ingredients
1 cup raisins (158g)
1½ cups golden raisins (230g)*
1½ cups dried black currants (222g)*
2 medium Ontario apples
⅔ cup slivered almonds (106g)
½ cup mixed peel (120g)
1 navel orange
1 lemon
½ cup dark brown sugar, packed (120g)
1½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon each cloves and allspice
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted
¼ cup cognac or brandy, rum works too!
Directions
Rinse apples, orange and lemon under cool water then tamp dry. Zest both the orange and lemon reserving zest to the side. Then juice the orange and lemon and reserve to the side. Peel and core apples, then roughly slice.
Prepare ingredients: Using a food processor fitted with a grater attachment, run machine on low speed to grate apples. Remove and replace shred attachment with blade attachment. Add 1 cup of the golden raisins and 1 cup of the black currants.
* Reserve the remaining ½ cups of raisins and currants to the side.
Add the almonds, mixed peel, sugar, orange and lemon zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice and kosher salt. Lastly, pour in the juices. Place the lid on the machine and run on a moderate setting to finely chop the mixture. Stop machine to scrape down side of canister at least once.
Transfer to a medium bowl. Add the reserved raisins and currants, then pour over the melted butter and cognac. Stir to combine.
Cover then transfer to a cool location to allow flavours to mature for at least 24 hours, although waiting 1 week or more yields more robust flavours.hough.
To store for longer, transfer to sterilized jars and use in your favourite recipes, consuming with 3 months.
Until Cottage Season
