Homemade Christmas Mincemeat
Super easy homemade mincemeat without the palm oil of many brands. Use my suggested dried fruit, spices, nuts and alcohol as a guide and swap in your own favourites (eg. glace cherries, dried apricots, prunes, figs, ground ginger, whisky, sherry). For a no-alcohol mincemeat, replace the spirit with more orange juice.
Ingredients
- 180 g raisins
- 150 g sultanas
- 150 g currants
- 75 g dried mixed peel
- 180 g soft brown sugar
- 2 cooking apples peeled & grated
- 120 g shredded beef suet see Recipe Notes for alternative
- 1 orange, zest & juice
- 1 lemon, zest & juice
- 25 g almonds chopped
- 25 g pecans chopped
- 2 rounded tsp mixed spiced
- 1 rounded tsp cinnamon
- 120 ml brandy (or whisky, sherry, rum etc.) see Recipe Notes for alcohol-free version
Instructions
The day before
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Mix all the ingredients (but include only HALF the brandy) in a deep baking dish.
Cover with foil and leave to soak at room temperature overnight.
The next day
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Preheat the oven to 120°C / 100° Fan / Gas 1/2 / 250° F
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Stir the mixture well, re-cover with the foil then put in the oven.
Cook for 2 hours (do step 3 during this time):
- After 40-50 minutes, check that it isn't drying out. Turn the oven temperature down a little if necessary.
- Stir 2-3 times during the cooking to distribute the melted suet throughout.
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Wash 2 large or 4 medium jars with screw-on lids in hot, soapy water. Rinse and leave to drain.
During the last 20 minutes of cooking, put the jars and lids on a baking tray and place in the oven.
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After 2 hours, take the mincemeat from the oven and leave to cool slightly (3-5 min) before stirring in the remaining brandy.
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Remove the hot jars from the oven and pot up the mincemeat, stirring the contents of the baking dish regularly so that the melted fat is distributed evenly amongst all the jars.
Important for food safety reasons both the jars and the mincemeat should be hot when potting up.
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Protecting your hands with a cloth, screw on the lids and leave to cool: when cool enough to handle, you may be able to tighten the lids a little more.
Store in a cool, dark place (a kitchen cupboard away from heat sources is usually fine) and leave to mature for a minimum of 2-3 weeks.
Should keep for a year.
Tip: if the mincemeat is quite firm when you come to use it, heat the jar (minus its lid) in the microwave for a few seconds or in a low oven for a few minutes. This will melt the suet and make it easier to spoon the mincemeat from the jar.
Recipe Notes
If you want to make vegetarian mincemeat then you may substitute cubed butter for the beef suet. However, please note that this recipe has not been tested using butter. Vegetarian suet is available but many brands contain palm oil which you may wish to avoid.
For alcohol-free mincemeat, leave out the brandy or other spirit and replace with more orange juice, apple or pineapple juice or water. However, add it ALL at step 1 rather than half.
Mincemeat isn't just for mince pies. Try it in Mincemeat Shortbread Squares with Almond Crumble, Mincemeat Christmas Tree Tear & Share Bread and Mincemeat Biscuits.
Recipe updated 2023