Food Monday ~ Mince Pies
Mincemeat for Mince Pies
Makes 2-3lbs.
12oz Mixed Fruit
4oz Suet
2oz Mixed peel
2oz Cherries
2oz Nuts
8oz Demerara Sugar
4tablespoons Lemon Juice
½tablespoon Mixed Spice
1 Orange, Rind & Juice
Wine, Rum or Brandy
4 Cooking Apples, peeled, cored and chopped
Clean and prepare the fruit and put into a large bowl. Add chopped apples, suet, peel, cherries, nuts, sugar and spices and mix well. Add lemon juice, rind and juice of the orange and selected booze. Mix thoroughly, cover and leave for 2-3 days.
Bottle and leave for 2 weeks in a cool place before using.
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Pastry for Mince Pies
8oz Plain Flour
¼ teaspoon Salt
5oz Butter
½oz Ground Almonds
½oz Caster Sugar
1-2 tablespoons Water
Beaten egg or milk to glaze
Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, add the butter and rub in until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar and almonds. Add 1 tablespoon of water and with a knife mix to a stiff dough, adding more water if necessary. Draw the dough together with the fingertips and turn onto a floured board. Knead lightly for 1 minute then wrap in foil and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before rolling out.
Roll out the pastry very thinly, cut out 15 small rounds and 15 larger rounds, re-rolling the trimmings as required. Line patty tins with the large pastry rounds; place a spoonful of filling in each. Damp the edges with the egg/milk and cover with the smaller rounds, sealing well. Brush the tops with the beaten egg or milk, make a small hole in the top and bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with icing sugar while still warm.
Now you are all set for Carol Singing!
steph said,
October 20, 2008 at 10:27 am
Please Grannymar
When you say mixed fruit…
do you mean dried mixed fruit (raisins, sultanas, currants)?
Can I start singing now?
Grannymar said,
October 20, 2008 at 10:52 am
Steph
My mother only used raisins & sultanas, she always said currants were dirty! Don’t ask me why. Perhaps it was they were so small and difficult to clean.
Nancy said,
October 20, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Grannymar,
I always wondered why we were not allowed to eat Mince Pie on Friday when I was a child. The priest claimed there was meat in it;so I always thought that a mince was an animal.
Now, all these years later,and I do mean years later, I find that the meat in Mince Pie consists of 4 oz. of suet. What a gyp!!!!
Our Thanksgiving Day over here is always on a Thursday. That means lots of turkey and Mince pie was left over in the frig that could not be touched the next day because “No Meat On Friday.” It was very tempting but we didn’t touch!
While I am on the subject, do you think there are any people in Purgatory who are there simply because they ate a hot dog or a piece of mince Pie on a Friday?
Please answer quickly because I did once sneak a piece of mince pie on a Friday before the ban was lifted and I want to know if I should be worried.
Grannymar said,
October 20, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Nancy
Worry not I will give you a dispensation!
I remember back in the days when it was the rule to fast from midnight before going to communion, that a two hour fast was introduced on a Holy Thursday before the evening Mass. I always spent the day baking with my mother and innocently licked my finger with sugar on it. You guessed I broke my fast and was not allowed to take communion!!
They were rules made by men and not by God. That was the beginning of the slippery road for me.
Magpie 11 said,
October 20, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Half and Half plain white and plain wholemeal makes a great pastry…and when she says thin she means thin!
When you fill the cases add a few bits of extra fruit and a drop of brandy!
Mince pies did once contain meat…it was a way of using the meat and making it palatable.
GM a tip for adding booze to the christmas cake or pud once it’s cooked…use a large (20ml at least) hypodermic syringe… prod a hole with a skewer and then insert the syringe. Similarly for adding the extra to the mincepies ;-0
I’m thinking of running a sweep on how long before the staff at the school I used to teach at put in an order for the bosses mince pies……last year I had a little bet with myself as to who it would be that asked first…It was a complete outsider!
ian said,
October 20, 2008 at 7:15 pm
Grannymar,
Shame on you! It’s another five weeks until stir up Sunday.
I think mince pies did contain mincemeat originally, so would be barred to Roman Catholics on Fridays, penitential seasons, the eve of feast days, etc.
I’m so glad Protestants don’t have purgatory
Grannymar said,
October 20, 2008 at 9:27 pm
@Magpie - I have enough problems with my pills without having a hypodermic syringe on hand!
@Ian - We had Stir up Sunday every week. If it wasn’t a row it was stirring up the loaves and fishes in the kitchen for the hoards of unexpected visitors!
Paddy Bloggit said,
October 20, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Any chance you’d post some down?
Grannymar said,
October 20, 2008 at 11:03 pm
Paddy
You will have to come up to collect them!
Baino said,
October 21, 2008 at 5:14 am
Can’t I just use a jar of Robertson’s Fruit mince? Actually, I love mince pies but can’t stand peel!
Grannymar said,
October 21, 2008 at 11:07 am
Baino
Make your own and leave out the peel! Substitute another dried fruit instead!