Spiced Chestnut Christmas Mincemeat

Chestnut Christmas Mincemeat

serves

Serves 8

time

2 hours

level

Beginner

If you are using the mincemeat within a couple of weeks, there is no need to cook it before you cook your pies, just mix the ingredients together and store the mixture in the fridge. To save time you can roughly chop the chestnuts, figs, dates and prunes in your food processor. The cooked mincemeat will keep almost indefinitely, so feel free to double the recipe or just scale the recipe up to use up the dried fruit from whichever your size your packets come in.

Makes approximately 1.2kg, enough to fill about 80, 7cm mince pies.

Ingredients

100g dried cranberries
180g Merchant Gourmet Whole Chestnuts, chopped to the size of the cranberries
120g dried figs, tips trimmed then chopped to the size of the cranberries
100g dates, chopped to the size of the cranberries
100g prunes, chopped to the size of the cranberries
100g suet, or vegetable suet, depending on your preference/dietary requirements
100g candied peel
1 & 1/4 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Grated zest and juice of 3 large tangerines or oranges
150g dark brown sugar
1 large Bramley apple, unpeeled, coarsely grated
5 tablespoons balsamic syrup or rum or brandy

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 120C.
Get an oven proof bowl or baking dish with raised sides. Add all the mincemeat ingredients. Mix them together. (If you are doing the uncooked version to use within 2 weeks, just mix and put in the fridge).
Cover with foil. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 2 hours.
If you are putting the mincemeat in jars, do so while it is hot, you will then have a thin layer of suet that rises to the top, which will effectively seal the mincemeat inside the jars.
If you don’t want to store the mincemeat in jars just leave it to cool in the baking dish, give it a good stir, then cover it with clingfilm and put in the fridge.