Is my pekin bantam male or female?

[..lay a little egg for me]

As we have a glut of apples, and quite a bit of mixed dried fruit, I thought I would make some mincemeat for my mince pies. Does anyone have a good recipe that does not require suet? It's not that I won't use (veggie) suet but last time I bought some, the half-used packet lived in the fridge for over a year!

[Mrs Webmuppet]

Heres a Suet Free Mincemeat (courtesy of Nigellas Domestic Godess)

 

250g soft dark sugar

250ml medium dry cider

1 kilo cooking apples, peeled, halved & quartered

half tsp mixed spice

half tsp ground cinnamon

250g currants

250g raisins

75g chopped glace cherries

75g blanched almonds, chopped

rind and juice of half a lemon

90ml brandy or rum

 

In a saucepan dissolve the sugar in the cider over a gentle heat. Roughly chop the apples and add to thew saucepan. Then add all the ingredients except the brandy or rum and simmer for 30 mins until pulpy. Take off the heat, when it has cooled a little , stir in the brandy or rum. Spoon into sterilized jars.

 

Should make about 2 kilos.

 

Made this recipe in September but haven't tested the mincemeat yet.

[..lay a little egg for me]

OOh, thanks Mrs W...that looks like just the thing. A kilo of apples is good. We have about 15 boxes in the shed, so every apple-containing recipe helps! D'you think it would be OK to swap the cherries for mixed peel, as I have some left over from the Xmas cake but no cherries?

[Lydia]

I too am not a fan of suet - I think it makes for a very greasy end product. I've done this Jewelled Mincemeat recipe in previous years and it was very nice (and uses lots of apples).

 

I didn't put the nuts in and just upped some of the other ingredients instead.

[Mrs Webmuppet]

I can't see that swopping the ingredients around a bit would be a problem providing the total weight is the same.

[Mutrix Farmers]

I've seen a recipe that uses butter instead of suet. The mixture is slow baked and the melted butter coats all the ingredients. It might have been a "Delia" recipe?

[surferdog]

Here's the low fat Rosemary Conley version. Haven't tried it as I'm a full-fat kind of girl Looks very simple though.

 

500g cooking apples

900g mixed dried fruit

2 tsps mixed spice

600ml sweet cider

2 tbsp brandy, whisky or rum

 

Peel, core and grate the cooking apples. Place the grated apples and the dried fruit in a saucepan. Add the mixed spice and cider.

Simmer for about 20 minutes or until the mixture forms a pulp and most of the liquid has evaporated.

Stir in your choice of spirit. Allow to cool.

When cool pack the mincmeat in sterilised jars and store in the refigerator until required. Will keep in fridge for four months, once opened use within 1 week.

[..lay a little egg for me]

Thanks for all your recipes. I used an adapted version of the Nigella/Rosemary Conley recipe but using apple juice instead of cider as I couldn't find the bottle of cider that I thought we had in the cupboard when I came to make the mincemeat. Funny, don't remember drinking it!! Have not yet made mince pies though, letting it mature for a bit. Will let you know how they turn out.