Leah’s Christmas Mincemeat Recipe

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Mince pies are little parcels of joy that are the essence of Christmas. A treat that is carefully put together and hopefully received with a glass of something good to wash it down. I haven’t ever given a great deal of thought to the mincemeat. The pastry was the deal-breaker — that is until I was introduced to this mincemeat recipe. I am now fully sold on the merits of homemade mincemeat and the glorious mince pies that result from it.

My sweet tooth revelation

All that said, I haven’t actually always liked mince pies. It wasn’t until my first pregnancy that my sweet tooth really emerged and opened my life up to new edible riches. So when my lovely friend Leah told me about her homemade mincemeat recipe I was intrigued. Warning: once you make this you will never want to bother with shop-bought mince pies/mincemeat again.

Bonding over a brew

Leah and I met at Farm Tots, a baby group, with our eldest children. We bonded over a free cuppa at the end of the group and I felt, almost instantly, that we would be friends for life. She is a supportive and kind friend with a passionate approach to family life. Leah and I share a similar outlook on lots of things in life including the value of a good old natter.

A festive-friendly zone

It’s usually the case that we migrate towards people who share our values. I have found that it is especially important in parenthood to surround yourself with people who bring joy and lift your energy. That is true of my friendship with Leah. The one area where our bond is strongest (besides navigating a global pandemic with babies and toddlers) is in our shared love of Christmas. Leah is the only other person I know, outside of my family, who is as (if not more) dedicated to the spirit of Christmas as I am. So when I was planning our December Family Feed I knew there was only one guest fit for the task of the first December recipe.

Creating traditions

Leah shared this mincemeat recipe with me back in September/October. It’s the recipe she has made part of her families Christmas tradition and, thanks to this wonderful experience, I can firmly say that this recipe is going to be part of our Christmas traditions going forward.

Eat now or store for later

It is worth noting that this recipe can absolutely still be made in time for Christmas 2020. The original recipe is from the queen of home cooking herself, Delia Smith. She says this recipe can be kept indefinitely in a cool dark cupboard, though she does suggest it’s at its best within a year of making it. That means that you can make a batch now, use some throughout December and store the rest for next year.

Christmas in a jar

It had never occurred to me to make my own mincemeat… partly because of my late arrival to the mince pie game. I have since discovered it’s possibly the easiest of efforts but for the yummiest of results. This mincemeat recipe was an absolute joy of a task. We have called it Christmas in a jar because the aroma that’s released when you pop the lid is the sensorial definition of Christmas. Even our elf got her mitts into the mincemeat… we think she was feeling homesick.

Leah’s family traditions

I spoke with Leah about the significance of this recipe in her life and her approach to feeding a family. I wanted to know why this recipe makes it into her kitchen year on year.

LS: I cook this recipe once a year, usually in September or early October. For me, it is a really special time as it marks the first of the year’s Christmas preparations. The house fills with the smells of Christmas which are so evocative. Everyone in the house (well not the three-month-old this year) had a stir and we really make it a family activity.

Dinner at Leah’s table

I have had the privilege of eating at Leah’s table, pre covid, on a few occasions during the week. Jim was travelling with work and Leah and Alex (her husband) extended an offer to join them for dinner with my eldest in tow. I know that Leah cooks from her heart, with an appreciation for ingredients and the intention of creating good wholesome food for her family. I have felt as comfortable at her table as I do at my own.

LS: Feeding my family means coming together, a sense of love, from me to them in the preparation of it and the shared love and time between us all as we share in the meal. Not on a daily basis but it is also a source of creating memories together, marking the rhythms of the year, and part of our shared heritage as a family.

Beautiful bakes

LS: I remember cooking a few things at various points in my childhood. Shortbread fingers for a village fete competition (which I did not win), a chocolate fridge cake during my brief phase in the Brownies, a lemon meringue pie in food tech at school. Thinking about it most of the memories are of baking rather than cooking and that does reflect the deep pleasure that I get from it to this day.

Leah’s bakes are something else! We chat almost daily in these covid times… I say chat, we send video messages to one another as a source of fractured but wonderful conversations. We share our experiences, the day, the children, the chaos and the highs and the lows of lockdown with a young family. We share recipes, Christmas inspiration and so much support for one another as women and Mums.

A natural born baker

I see Leah baking cinnamon swirls for breakfasts, perfecting her sugar cookies, baking the most magnificent looking cakes and taking it all in her stride with a baby in one arm and a toddler on the loose. My own relationship with baking is complicated. I do love to bake and I can enjoy the process but I don’t always get on so well with the rigidity of baking. I bake more sweet stuff now, whereas years ago it was focaccias and savoury pies at the heart of my baking endeavours. These days, with small children at my feet I want to bake quick, simple and yummy food… This mincemeat recipe ticks all three boxes.

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The comfort of Grandma’s cooking

I asked Leah about the founding memories of food in her life. Where the journey began and what influenced her in the kitchen at that time.

LS: My favourite dishes to eat and the ones with really powerful memories were from my grandmother. Very traditional stuff like beef stew and dumplings, suet pudding, macaroni and cheese (done in her own way), and everything followed by some birds custard with or without a banana in it. I think this instilled a sense of what comfort food can be and the emotional connection we can have with it.

My actual learning to cook in any meaningful way began at university and took hold once I lived in my first shared house in London after graduating. I remember starting with a lot of Nigella cookbooks, I’m not particularly sure why, perhaps the accessibility. I would regularly dabble at being grown-up and inviting groups of friends over for dinners so the focus was very much on food to feed a gaggle of hungry mouths.

Mince pie door drop

It seems like an age since I cooked for a big crowd, even before children our house was a place of gatherings, dinner and BBQs. I long to get back to that. Christmas 2020 is going to be a very different experience for us all. And when it comes to sharing food there is every reason, this year, to bake these mince pies and drop them off at the doors of your family and friends.

The lost connection with your elderly neighbour, the friends you have missed and the family you can’t get together with will feel somewhat reconnected with the gift of something homemade. The perfect combination would be to make our mulled syrup and give out small bottles of that with bottles of wine and some homemade mince pies. Like Leah, I love to cook food to feed a crowd… who says they have to be in your house!

The Pastry

This story is of course about the mincemeat recipe. But it doesn’t feel right to leave it there. So we are also sharing a handy go-to sweet pastry recipe which you can make the mince pies from. Leah shared Mary Berry’s sweet shortcrust pastry recipe with me.

It’s a very simple pastry and I like that it uses icing sugar instead of caster sugar. The pastry is really smooth, which we all enjoyed. Leah and I both doubled the quantities (I made 12 mince pies) and I baked mine on 180ºC fan for 12 mins. Ovens do vary as do the size of your mince pies. For my deeper filled mince pies, I baked them for 15 minutes so always adapt to suit.

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Leah is busy perfecting this recipe. She is testing additions like orange zest and juice in a quest to find a pastry as befitting as the mincemeat inside. I was really pleased with the recipe as is, but I made a batch yesterday with orange zest and it was pretty special.

Vegetarian mincemeat

Mincemeat contains suet which is an animal fat, making most mincemeat not suitable for vegetarians. Delia suggests swapping the suet for vegetarian suet which I did as a second batch. The recipe and method are otherwise identical and I found it had little impact on the taste. There was some difference in the colour and texture but this went unnoticed once they were baked in to mince pies. I’d be tempted to suggest you use vegetarian suet regardless – if you are catering for a mix of meat-eaters and vegetarians. I have a lot of mincemeat in the house now so we will be storing some for 2021.

Christmas eve

I think the most exciting part of the mincemeat recipe is my anticipation of baking mince pies on Christmas Eve for Father Christmas with our children. This is the start of a new tradition for our family and it feels like the perfect end to the mincemeat story. A story that started in September/October when jam and chutney season was in full swing. And one that ends the night before Christmas, the family together and the house filled with the magic and wonder of Christmas day and all that it has to bring.

Thank you to my dear friend Leah, for bringing this recipe in to our world, for inspiring me with your beautiful bakes and for the warmth and love you bring to our friendship!

The original recipe can be found in Delia Smith book: Delia’s Happy Christmas, pg 70. Or you can access it online here