A few days ago, I made some mince pies for the U3A Christmas meeting. I had bought a new large jar of mincemeat, but then remembered I still had 2.5 jars of the same size left from last year. So I dug out one of those and used that.
I made some oil pastry, then used it to make a dozen normal sized pies. I had been asked to bring 30 mince pies, I don’t have any more tins for normal sized pies, so I dug out 2 mini tins and made some using those. Each little tin made a dozen mini pies.
The next day, I used the remaining mincemeat and the remaining pastry to make a further 20 mini pies. So 1 large jar of mincemeat made a total of 12 normal sized pies and 44 small ones. The mincemeat came from Aldi, but I can’t find it on mySupermarket, so I’ve used the price at Tesco
large jar mincemeat, Tesco, £1.80/822g
300g value self raising flour, 45p/1.5kg, 9p
150ml veg oil, £1/litre, 15p
total cost £2.04
made 12 normal sized mince pies and 44 mini ones. Counting each mini pie as 0.5 of a normal sized one, that’s 34 normal sized pies at a cost of 6p each. The cheapest ones I could find on mySupermarket were over twice that, so worth the effort I think. Besides, home baked goods always taste nicer than shop ones
If I wanted to swoosh it up a bit, I would add some fresh, diced apple or cranberries; dates; walnuts; fine chopped dried apricots or mango. I watched Mary Berry last evening and she grated some marzipan on the top of hers which sounds a delicious thing to do. I haven’t tried it, but the grated zest of a lemon or an orange would bring an extra element of flavour too
Mincemeat Muffins
If you don’t want to make mince pies, how about some mincemeat muffins? Super easy, just a bit of light stirring. They freeze well and are extremely moreish
Mincemeat Brownies
Or for something different again, try these wonderful Mincemeat Brownies. The dried cranberries are an expensive ingredient, but contribute a great deal to the flavour, giving delicious little sweet and sour flavour pops, the bake wouldn’t be the same without them. You are unlikely to be able to taste the butter, so I’ve swapped that out for margarine. The ground and flaked almonds are lovely, but could be left out, add extra flour to replace them. If you can, please use free range eggs, but if needs must…. The glace cherries could be left out too to keep the cost down
The original recipe came from a tv chef in the 1980’s, and I simply can’t remember what his name is! I can picture his face and I’ve Googled to try and find him to credit the recipe, no luck so far. If I remember who it was, I’ll edit here – AHA, GOT IT! Antony Worrall Thompson
175g margarine, 18p/100g, 31p
75g sugar, 59p/kg, 4p
150g self raising flour, 45p/1.5kg, 4p
100g ground almonds, Asda 200g/£2.28, £1.14
4 medium eggs, 13p per egg for free range, 52p
400g mincemeat, Tesco, £1.80/822g, 87p
150g dried cranberries, Asda, £1.17/170g, £1.03
50g flaked almonds, Asda £1.48/150g, 49p
75g glace cherries, chopped, Asda £1.30/200g, 49p
Total cost £5.29, at 25 pieces, 21p each. This costs a bit more than our usual cakes and bakes because of the high value ingredients of almonds and cranberries. See above for suggestions on how to cut the cost
I’m sure Asda must have mincemeat, but couldn’t find it today on mySupermarket, so have priced it using Tesco
Cream the fat and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, a little at a time. Don’t add too much at once or the mixture will curdle. If it does curdle, add a spoonful of flour, beat it in, and continue slowly adding the eggs. If it is still curdled, no matter, the bake will still work fine and taste just as good, it simply might not rise as much.
Now fold through the flour, ground almonds, mincemeat, cranberries, cherries and flaked almonds.
Pour into a baking tray and bake at 170C (fan) for 35 minutes until golden. size?????
Cuts into 25 pieces
Mincemeat Ice Cream
And if none of those appeals, make some super easy ice cream and stir some mincemeat through it, with some lemon or orange zest too if you like. All the Christmas flavours, no heavy pudding – although it does have double cream in it.
Crush some mince pies and stir through vanilla ice cream and re-freeze. You could add some Baileys too for an extra seasonal flavour
Mince Pie Cheesecake
Mix in some crushed mince pies or mincemeat from a jar to a cheesecake topping. The recipe link is a no-cook one, and just involves a bit of stirring. Baileys here, as with the ice cream, would make a nice addition.
Muscovado and Red Fruit Cheesecake, 50p a serving with the fruit, 33p without
A roulade recipe using mincemeat, Bramley apple and whipped cream – gluten free
Top some fruit
Chop some apples and top with crushed mince pies. Bake in the oven and serve with custard, cream or ice cream for a super easy festive pudding
Lesley – oozie-woozies sound nice. My husband loves an apple pie or crumble, perhaps I’ll try that next time 🙂
OMD I love mincemeat. I eat it on toast. Also I make oozie-woozie pie (apple pie with some mincemeat in it).
I ‘improve’ (IMO) by adding grated sweet apple , but that’s because I like apples a lot.
Sounds like fun! Thanks for satisfying my curiosity.
Hiya Flybaby
Yes, WI is Women’s Institute. A great place for friendship and fellowship, I have made some great friends since joining. We do lots of things together, book group; garden group; walking group; lunch club; drama; writing group; theatre, amd I met the friend there that I go to the live transmissions of opera, ballet and plays with
The U3A is the University of the 3rd Age. There is a monthly meeting that all are free to go to. Then if anyone wants to start up a group on absolutely anything, they offer to convene a group in say, budget cookery, as I did, and anyone that is interested goes along and joins in. Costs a few £’s year to join. Again, fantastic place to find people of like mind
Wow. 30 mince pies! You are a saint! I remember my mom baking mince pies, and heating up Crosse & Blackwell plum pudding, and making brandy butter to go with it. She also used to make a trifle, but she used to “cheat” & used canned fruit & frozen (Sara Lee) pound cake. She did this for my grandfather, who immigrated to the U.S. from England. I always thought the brandy butter was the best part! I could’ve quite happily eaten that by itself. It never failed; we children always ended up with the brandy-soaked pound cake in our portions, while the adults searched for brandy in theirs!Thanks for the memories. P.S. What does “U3A” mean? Does “WI” mean Women’s Institute? Merry Christmas from across the pond.
Do you still have the recipe Angela? Sounds good
Ooh, yummy. I shall def try that
Happy Christmas to you too, and a Prosperous New Year
Hi Lesley,
I have a fantastic recipe for mincemeat porridge which we always have on Christmas morning with a little single cream, it really is gorgeous. Unfortunately it’s a recipe I’ve adapted myself from one using mixed dried fruit and a miniature bottle of rum, which seemed a bit faffy to me so started using mincemeat instead, I can’t remember how much mincemeat I use per 40g oats, I think it’s probably about a heaped dessertspoon per person. I recommend you try it!
If we don’t speak again beforehand, then have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.
Luv Paula x
I used to be fond of a recipe in the Cranks Vegetarian book, making “Belgian Cake” which required a jar of mincemeat. My Mum used to get a Christmas hamper each year, and always, around March, she would give me the jar saying “I don’t want this!” and I would bake a BC for tea. Happy memories. I like the look of your Brownie recipe though – thanks!