mincemeat - not just for christmas

just before christmas last year i did some christmas cooking with my neighbour and wizzo blogger Mediocremum (she is miles better than mediocre as a mum ) - Mm did me a big favour by writing up the recipe and posting about it on her blog, i think i'm happy about being compared to the muppet chef!

i've been making my no-fat, low-sugar mincemeat for years but never got round to writing it down, i tend to throw together what i have handy - but it's good to have a more accurate idea of what i do, so thank you Mediocremum

the main plus point of my recipe is that it is much lower in calories than normal mincemeat (which is always a bonus at this fattening time of year) - also, because it has much less sugar, you can put more in your mince pies without them boiling over in the oven AND you can be more generous with the brandy butter, cream etc!

fat and sugar also act as flavour enhancers so this recipe uses more spice than usual to make up for that - it keeps for ages in the fridge, i have only just finished last year's supply

my usual method is a little different to the one i made with my neighbour as her speciality is slow-cooker recipes - either way works fine but for a slow cooker i would probably grate the apple, it will mush down faster

ingredients

• 2 large cooking apples or 5 small dessert apples - grated or cored and roughly chopped (peeling is optional)
• 1- 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 2 brown/black cardamon pods (or 6-8 small green ones) cracked to release the flavour
• 4 cloves
• about 125 ml  liquid (apple or orange juice, water, brandy, rhum or a mixture) 
• 1 - 2 tbsp sugar (i prefer soft brown or muscovado for the colour) 
• 1 tsp fresh citrus zest ( i prefer clementine, but orange or lemon is good too)
• 500g of dried mixed fruit or raisins & sultanas

method

• put apples, spices and the liquid into a pan and cook on a low heat until the apple is mushy - dessert apples may need mashing down a bit, but cooking apples soften beautifully
• add remaining ingredients, stir well over a low heat until sugar is thoroughly dissolved 
• bring to a boil, cover and simmer for at least 30 mins - i leave mine on the wood burning stove for a couple of hours and top it up with a bit more liquid if it's getting too thick
• leave to cool then use for mince pies or whatever

this makes enough for at least a dozen individual mince pies and plenty left over for the next batch ..... or something else 

tips

• you can adjust the spices to your own taste - if you have no cardamom or cloves add a bit more mixed spice
• if you don't want to have to fiddle about digging out the whole spices afterwards: simmer them in the liquid for 5-10 mins and leave them to soak overnight, remove them and use the liquid as per recipe - or grind 1 clove and 1-2 small cardamom pods and use the powder instead - if you grind all the whole spices they will be overpowering