Decorated trees, lights, candles, poinsettias, holly, special baked goods– there are some things that just define Christmas. When I was growing up, Christmas baking was such a major event my mother undertook. Although she put many hours of work into her baking, I think she really enjoyed it. Many of the ingredients for the special things she would bake at this time of the year were just too expensive to have on hand all the time. Somehow, she would work her magic and make that grocery money stretch to include these things. During my childhood fruit mincemeat was a pie or tart that we looked forward to having. Today, it seems – not so much.
As with many traditional recipes, especially the ones we make and enjoy around big holidays or life events, mincemeat pies are steeped with tradition and customs. Mincemeat would often be made on ‘stir-up’ Sunday along with the Christmas pudding, the last Sunday before Advent. Stirring the mincemeat was quite an event, and English tradition dictates that it should only be stirred clockwise. Stirring the mincemeat anti-clockwise would lead to bad luck and poor fortune in the coming 12 months. To spread the joy, it was tradition in England that each member of the family gave the mixture a stir, while making a wish. And if you wanted to be ensured good health and happiness in the upcoming year, you should eat one mince pie every day for the Twelve Days of Christmas, from Christmas Eve until the 5th of January.
Today’s modern mincemeat is a boozy, sweet, fruit filling for tarts and pies as well as a variety of other desserts. While mincemeat often plays a supporting role to the apple pie here in North America, the English mincemeat pie is only a two-bite size.
Both Brion & I still enjoy the taste of mincemeat. It just wouldn’t seem like Christmas if we didn’t have some version of it.
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SERVINGS
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- 1/2 cup butter, soft
- 1/2 cup fine granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 1/2 cups pastry flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 87.5 gm (3 oz) raisins
- 27.5 gm (1 oz) dried currants
- 27.5 gm (1 oz) dried apricots, chopped
- 55 gm (2 oz) candied mixed peel, finely chopped
- 40 gm (1 1/2 oz) solid vegetable shortening
- 112.5 gm (4 oz) dark brown sugar
- 2 1/2 tsp spice combo*
- 1/2 lemon, grated zest & juice
- 1/2 orange, grated zest & juice
- 1 small cooking apple, cored & finely chopped
- 3 Tbsp brandy OR rum
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cold & cubed
- 3 Tbsp brown sugar
- 1/4 cup + 1 Tbsp flour
- 1 cup oatmeal
Ingredients
Pastry
Mincemeat Filling
Crumble Topping
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- In a medium bowl, cream butter with sugar, salt & vanilla; add the egg yolk. In a small bowl, whisk together flour & baking powder; add to creamed mixture. Blend well. Press into a 13 3/4" x 4 3/8" (35 x 11 cm) tart pan. Cover with plastic wrap set aside in freezer or refrigerator until needed.
- In a large baking dish, combine all the ingredients except the alcohol, stirring well to make sure they're evenly distributed. Cover with a tea towel & leave overnight for the flavors to marinate together.
- Preheat the oven to 230 F.
- Remove towel & cover the pot with foil & place in the oven for 2 1/2 hours. Remove from oven & stir mincemeat mixture well. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally. The stirring is essential to distribute the fruit as the mixture cools.
- Once cooled, stir the mincemeat again, add the alcohol & stir one more time. Spoon into pastry shell & level out gently.
- Beat butter, brown sugar & salt in a bowl with mixer on high speed until light & fluffy. Blend in flour & oatmeal just until crumbly. Crumble streusel mixture over filling.
- Bake on bottom rack for 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown & filling begins to bubble. If topping is getting brown too fast, cover with foil. Cool completely on wire rack.
- SPICE COMBO
- 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- This amount will be enough for 2 recipes of mincemeat filling in case you want to make a dozen tarts as well!