Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[chickencam]

I have always made Delia's, but OH was not so keen so last year he made a different one may have been Nigella's. He had a slight mishap with his and added rather a lot of ground cloves, not to my taste, but he quite liked it. Last night he made up a batch of mince pies using up the last half jar of each type left over from last year mixed together, which tastes divine.

 

I like a moist dark very fruity and definitely boozy mincemeat. I really don't like the sort that you get in most commercial mince pies, but I do like a more short bread like pastry.

 

Any suggestions would be gratefully received because we now need to make up some mincemeat for this year.

[Chickendoodle]

I too have always made Delia's recipe but decided to have a change this year and I made this one

 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1157/boozy-mincemeat

 

It is uncooked and is very boozy. I have already made some mince pies and they are delish

 

The pastry that I always make for mince pies is this one

 

8 oz plain flour

5 oz butter

 

crumble together and then add

 

2 tablespoons caster sugar

 

Mix one egg yolk with about 3 tablespoons of water and add to make the pastry. Chill for 20 mins or so. Once the pies are made brush with the egg white and sprinkle a little caster sugar on top for a yummy crunch.

 

I have tried lots of different pastries, standard shortcrust, orange shortcrust, puff, rough puff.... but this is the one we all decided was the ultimate. It is easy to work with too because of the egg yolk

[chickencam]

Thanks, that is one that I am considering, but there seems to be an awful lot of suet in it, but having looked again it is a large recipe with a lot of everything, including alcohol

[Chickendoodle]

It made about 8 jars I think so not much suet (or booze ) in each pie. You could always use less suet but I guess you need the copious quantity of booze to preserve it as the apples are not cooked prior to putting it in the jars

[Olly]

I use Delia's recipe, but vary it a bit - I usually use vegetarian suet just in case the mince pies may be consumed by veggies, and I add a bit of booze/swap some of the dried fruit for cranberries/use honey instead of some of the sugar. It's a bit like chutney - you can play around without it affecting the final product too much.

[Eggasperated]

I too have always made Delia's recipe but decided to have a change this year and I made this one

 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1157/boozy-mincemeat

 

 

I have never made mincemeat but having seen this I think I might give it a go, but, what's Disaronno? I don't really want to buy anymore alcohol as we're not great drinkers - is there a substitute? I have quite a few odd drinks I've bought for cooking various things so I'm hoping I can use one of those .

[Lavenders_Blue]

Disaronno is amaretto, or as I prefer to call it, marzipan in a glass I rarely buy it, as once I start, I could happily drink the bottle in one go, it's so yummy!

[Chickendoodle]

I too have always made Delia's recipe but decided to have a change this year and I made this one

 

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1157/boozy-mincemeat

 

 

I have never made mincemeat but having seen this I think I might give it a go, but, what's Disaronno? I don't really want to buy anymore alcohol as we're not great drinkers - is there a substitute? I have quite a few odd drinks I've bought for cooking various things so I'm hoping I can use one of those .

 

I think you could use any spirit or any combination of spirits. We hardly drink but I usually have bottles of spirits that I use for Christmas cooking that last me for years

[Eggasperated]

Oh - I've got Amaretto, don't think it's called Disaronno tho' . Will have a search in the cupboard.

 

Thank you

[chickencam]

Dissorano and amaretto are very similar both having a strong almond flavour like marzipan. Mincemeat tend to use brandy, rum and sherry most commonly. The alcohol acts as a preservative as well as a flavouring agent.

 

We went through a bit of a cocktail phase a couple of years ago, therefore we have quite an impressive array of weird and wonderful alcohol, but never the one that you want if you decide to try a new cocktail.

[Mrs Webmuppet]

I make Nigellas fat free mincemeat, absolutely no suet and plenty of booze. I like to leave it a couple of months to mature.

[chickencam]

Just googled that one, looks good, will swap the cherries for dried cranberries I think and add some orange rind of candies peel to it as well.

[Eggasperated]

After deciding to make my own mincemeat for the first time I then decided to make my own candied peel to put in it using this recipe. I couldn't find a pomello so just used the other fruit and I am now waiting for it to dry. It does taste delicious apart from the few bits that stuck to the pan and scorched , think I need to be more careful with temperatures and keeping my eye on it but 2 hours 45 mins is an awful long time.

I probably won't wait for it to dry over the 3 - 4 days before I use it as I can't see that will be a problem as it will be preserved by the alcohol anyway (and besides that I'm too impatient ).

 

Also had lots of bits left over so I managed to make a lemon and orange drizzle cake and will be cooking lemon chicken for dinner tomorrow.

[Lavenders_Blue]

Oh - I've got Amaretto, don't think it's called Disaronno tho' . Will have a search in the cupboard.

 

Thank you

 

Amaretto will be fine - it doesn't have to be Disaronno.

[Luvachicken]

I've never made mincemeat before but after getting The Mail on Saturday, I might try the Mary Berry one.

 

It makes 4 x 370g (13oz ) jars

and needs

175g currants

175g raisins

175g sultanas

175g dried cranberries

100g mixed peel

1 small cooking apple, peeled, cored and finely chopped

125g butter, cut in cubes

50g whole blanched almonds, roughly chopped

225g light muscovado sugar

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp mixed spice

grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

200ml brandy, rum or sherry

 

Measure everything except the alcohol into a large pan. Heat gently so the butter melts, then simmer gently for 10 minutes. Cool completely then stir in the alcohol.

 

Spoon into sterilised jars. Seal and store in a cool place for up to 6 months.

 

It does sound nice, has anyone else tried it ?

[chickencam]

I have eventually made Nigella's cranberry suet free one, which I don't much like, it is too bitter and tastes too strongly of cloves even though I reduced the cloves by about a quarter. I only made it because OH made it last year and he mixed it with the remnants of my Delia one to make a batch of pies and they were amazing.

 

I have also just finished making a cranberry studded mincemeat from the Good Food website, but only used the dried cranberries replacing the fresh ones with grated apple, because I think it is the bitterness if the fresh cranberries that I don't like. I don't have a sweet tooth but I hate bitter foods like marmalade.

[Eggasperated]

Tried my mincemeat last night. I had made a half quantity of the boozy one on here and a half quantity of Delia's, so I made a selection of mince pies and included some with commercial mincemeat that I had left over, I used my homemade puff pastry and the homemade mincemeat ones were delicious (and I don't normally eat mince pies).

OH said he thought my mincemeat was "as good as the shop one" so I sent him to stand in the corner until he was prepared to say how much better mine was .

[Patricia W]

No, but I did the boozy mincemeat one a couple of weeks ago and it is lush! It seems to make a lot but then it's so nice we're eating more of it!

[Luvachicken]

I just made the Mary Berry one yesterday - admittedly I used apricots as I didn't have dried cranberries - but it did smell delicious.

Can't wait to try it cooked in a mince pie.

What I licked off the spoon tasted lovely