04/12/2023

Mincemeat Biscuits

Name: Mincemeat Biscuits
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 200 g plain flour ((plus extra for forming the biscuits)); ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda; 1 pinch salt; 150 g caster sugar; 100 g soft butter; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 egg; 200 g mincemeat; 80 g walnuts or pecans (chopped); icing sugar ((for dusting))

Mincemeat Biscuits are a great alternative to mince pies. Sweet, fruity, and with a subtle spicy flavour, even people who don’t like mince pies can enjoy these moreish biscuits! As well as quality mincemeat, I include chopped walnuts or pecans for a nutty bite.

Finished with a dusting of icing sugar, Mincemeat Biscuits are a lovely addition to your Christmas table or, put into a pretty gift bag, make a thoughtful holiday present. So quick and easy to make, you can have a batch cooling in thirty minutes.

Jump to Recipe

I first started making these wonderful Mincemeat Biscuits when I discovered how easy it is to make you own mincemeat. Mincemeat, if you don’t already know, is a cooked preserve of dried fruit, spices, fat, and often alcohol. It’s inextricably linked with our British Christmas in the form of mince pies. To make it, all you do is mix up the ingredients, leave to soak overnight, then put in a low oven for a couple of hours. Packed into jars while still hot, you can forget about it for a few weeks while it matures.

With Homemade Christmas Mincemeat being so effortless, I soon found myself looking for other things to make with it other than mince pies. The results included Mincemeat Shortbread Squares with Almond Crumble and a stunning Mincemeat Christmas Tree tear and share bread. But the very first thing I made were simple and delicious Mincemeat Biscuits.

You can make them cookie-like with a softer centre or completely crispy. It’s up to you. Make a little thicker and bake for a shorter time for cookies, thinner and longer baking for a completely crunchy biscuit.

EASY MINCEMEAT BISCUITS

You’ll find a recipe card at the end with full instructions, but I recommend you read the rest of this post for extra tips and step-by-step images.

INGREDIENTS

The most important ingredient is, of course, mincemeat. You only need 200 grams or around half a standard jar to make a batch of 36 biscuits. Which makes my recipe particularly useful if you’ve got a little to use up.

But, as with the best mince pies, it’s important to use good quality mincemeat. So many brands lack lots of plump dried fruit. Instead, they’re padded out with cheaper ingredients like apple puree. As well as poorer taste, the result is a runny mincemeat that isn’t good to bake with.

So, ideally, you’ll have made your own mincemeat in October or November. By Christmas it will have matured into something rich and delicious. If not, then buy the best you can by checking the label for a high dried fruit content. Oh, and put a reminder in your calendar for next autumn that it’s time to get going on Homemade Christmas Mincemeat!

The other ingredients you need are: plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, a pinch of salt, caster sugar, soft butter, vanilla extract, an egg, plus some chopped walnuts or pecans. Also, a dusting of icing sugar is obligatory for that snowy, Christmassy look. I don’t usually add extra flavourings as my mincemeat already tastes good. But you could include a teaspoon of mixed spice or cinnamon if you like, or perhaps some grated orange or lemon zest.

HOW TO MAKE MINCEMEAT BISCUITS

The biscuit dough is very easy to make and will go even quicker if you have electric beaters. We start by beating together the soft butter, caster sugar and vanilla extract. When that’s nice and fluffy, the egg goes in along with a tablespoon of the flour that’s been sifted with the bicarbonate of soda and salt. Switching to a spoon, we stir in the rest of the flour followed by the mincemeat and chopped nuts. And that’s it. Your biscuit dough is ready!

To form the biscuits, you take 20 grams at a time and roll into a ball between your palms. I’m rubbish at estimating weights, so use scales for accuracy. Put the balls on a lined baking tray, giving them plenty of room to spread. On a standard tray, you should be able to fit 8. The recipe makes 36 biscuits so you’ll need to bake in batches; I do 2 trays at a time.

Now we take a fork, dipping the tines in a little extra flour to prevent sticking, and press down on each ball to flatten it. I find that one press going top to bottom followed by another going left to right is usually sufficient. What you want is a disc that’s evenly thick, between 0.5 – 1 cm. Thinner biscuits will be crunchier, thicker will be more cookie like i.e. firmer on the outside with a softer middle.

In a preheated oven, Mincemeat Biscuits will take just 12 – 15 minutes to get golden brown and cooked all the way through. Ovens do vary though, so check how they’re doing. If you want thoroughly crisp biscuits, you can cook a few minutes longer if necessary.

As each batch is done, use a palette knife or similar to remove the biscuits from the trays and transfer to a wire rack. At this stage they’ll still feel a little soft, but they’ll firm up as they cool. Once the biscuits are completely cold you can dust them with sifted icing sugar and store in an airtight container.

SERVING & STORING MINCEMEAT BISCUITS

These lovely biscuits, sweet, fruity and spicy, should keep for up to a week. I love them with a Christmas tipple like port, brandy, or sherry. You could offer your guests a few savoury nibbles alongside too like my Rosemary Crackers or Flaky Cheese Crackers. But they’d be good with warm mulled wine too, or even just a mug of tea or coffee.

Or how about packing a gift bag with Mincemeat Biscuits and taking as a present when you go Christmas visiting or include in a homemade hamper? If you think the lucky recipients might not eat them within a few days, make thinner biscuits and bake a little longer so they can keep for up to 2 weeks.

If you’ve made these biscuits, do let me know what you thought by leaving a comment.