Guilt-free Mincemeat
Posted: November 27, 2011 Filed under: Budget, Desserts, Preserves, Traditional 14 Comments
Wotchers!
Last week, I was flicking through one of my old recipe books (bit of a fib there, because I was actually reading a PDF of a 237 year old book, but ‘scrolling through page scans’ doesn’t really conjure up the same image), when I came upon a recipe for Mince Pies for Lent.
Two things struck me:
- There’s no added sugar or suet in this recipe!
- Mince pies for Lent? That’s pre-Easter! Curious that we now seem to eat mincemeat in pies mostly at Christmastime.
Anyhoo, back to the more relevant thought – no added sugar or suet. Nowadays, we traditionally make mincemeat far in advance of the festive season, so that it can mature in flavour. Both the sugar and the suet act as preservative and so when Christmas rolls around, you’ve got a jar of deliciously spicy sweetmeat and not a fizzing, fermenting jar of goo.
The downside of course is having to be organised enough to remember to make it far enough in advance, making enough for those unexpected baking moments (such as surprise visitors, or a last minute school bake sale contribution), and not making too much so you have storage problems. Quite apart from it not being suitable for either vegetarians or vegans.
Here, hopefully, is a solution. No suet means it’s vegetarian and vegan. No added sugar means its more suited to people needing to control their sugar intake, for whatever reason – although there IS sugar in the candied peel, so this isn’t quite a sugar-free recipe. Best of all it doesn’t need maturing, it’s literally mix and go.
The mixture is gently warmed and the fruits absorb the sherry, brandy and fruit juices. The finely-chopped dates break down and bind everything together. The result is packed full of flavour and with a much cleaner and fresher taste. This mix makes just under 500g of ready-to-use mincemeat.
NB This will keep for up to a week in the fridge, but no longer. Cooked as mince pies and frozen – up to 3 months.
Guilt-free Mincemeat
50g currants
50g raisins – crimson raisins look pretty
50g sultanas
50g dates – finely chopped
25g candied orange peel [1]
25g candied lemon peel [1]
25g candied grapefruit peel [1]
35g dried cranberries
25g flaked almonds – chopped
2tbs sherry
1tbs brandy
juice & grated rind of an orange
pinch of ground ginger
a grating of nutmeg,
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of mixed spice
pinch of ground cloves
60-100ml apple juice
- Put the dried fruits into a small saucepan.
- Cut the candied peel into small pieces with scissors and add to the pan with the spices. NB If you’re using your home-made candied peel that has been stored in syrup, then there’s no need to soften it in the saucepan – just stir it in with the nuts once the fruit has plumped.
- Add the orange juice and zest, brandy, sherry and 60ml of apple juice.
- Stir gently to combine and set pan over the lowest possible heat.
- Cover and let the mixture stew gently until all the liquid has been absorbed.
- If the fruit isn’t as plumped and juicy as you would like, add a little more apple juice.
- The mixture should be moist, but with no liquid visible in the bottom
- When you’re happy with the consistency, stir through the chopped, flaked almonds. [2]
Cost: £2.85 (using crimson raisins and home-made peel, November 2011)
[1] If you’ve made some candied peel yourself, then these are pretty straightforward. If not, then use 75g of what you have/can get. Buy whole peel pieces if possible – they retain their flavour much better than chopped – and cut them just before use.
[2] As a variation, you might like to include some chopped, fresh apple. However, please bear in mind that the juices in the apple will be released in cooking and might create SBIs [3].
[3] Soggy Bottom Issues. Which, we all know from the Bake Off, are to be avoided at all costs!
Time To Cook - Online 
Oh yum! Thank you so much for this! Can’t wait to make something christmassy and not feel guilty about eating it!
Thank you for posting this recipe. Just yesterday I was thinking about making my own mincemeat, but wanted a recipe without suet – now I have one. Thank you 🙂 I did not know such a recipe existed. I really enjoy your blog and I am very grateful for the advice and tips you share.
This recipe really intrigues me. My mother always prepared her own mincemeat ages in advance of Christmas. But I really don’t have the same luxury, due to confined space and time limitations. This recipe however, gives me the chance to make my own, rather than purchasing a jar of prepared stuff. Thanks! And I can adjust the quantities to make as much or as little as I need.
Great recipe. I always happily offer my mince pies to vegetarians and have to be reminded everytime. This makes things much easier not to mention, I don’t have to be organised enough to make the mincemeat in advance. GG
Just what I’m looking for! And even better I have pretty much all of the ingredients needed for this in the cupboard! Hurrah! Although do you think Amaretto would be ok to use in the place of rum and sherry? (I have a bit of Amaretto in the cupboard too…)
I don’t see why not – maybe try a splash on just a spoonful or two first though – would hate for you to slosh it in and then decide it doesn’t work 😀
A recipe without suet in it, yay!!
Hi! Thanks for sharing! I recently had a supermarket bought ‘luxury’ range mince pie which had a peach/apricot like aroma complementing the richness of the mince meal really well!
OOO, I cannot wait to give this a whizz – mountains of various dried fruits on the side ready 🙂
[…] I used came from a blog called ‘time to cook – online’ and I have taken their ‘guilt-free mincemeat‘ recipe. Again I used bought own brand mixed dried fruit with chopped peel, and put int he […]
I realize this is an old thread but…… if you replaced the alcohol with fruit juice (or not) why does it need to be heated/cooked?
could you not just mix it all together and leave it to sit a while (overnight)until all the liquid is absorbed? there seems to be nothing in this that requires cooking apart from the fact the heat would burn the alcohol away leaving only the flavour.
i know “normal” mincemeat is cooked but that is because of the suet I believe.
Wotchers Gaz!
The heating has two purposes: it helps plump the raisins and currants etc, and also breaks down the chopped dates which help bind everything together. I’ve never had much success trying to do this with cold liquids.
‘Normal’ mincemeat isn’t usually cooked, although Delia has a recipe where it is warmed enough to melt the suet.
As always, these instructions are only my suggestions. Feel free to disregard and experiment with what works best for you. Have fun! M-A
Would this work without dates.
Wotchers Melvyn!
Not sure what exactly you mean by ‘work’.
You can certainly leave the dates out, but that will obviously affect the sweetness and the texture.
M-A 😀