Mince Pies for Minimal Irritation

GLUTEN FREE / NO ADDED SUGAR:  Part 1 The Mincemeat

Although I don’t follow my diet as strictly as I really need to over the festive season I’ve become very creative with the aim of damage limitation. Even though I shouldn’t really eat any kind of dried fruit, Christmas wouldn’t be the same without mince pies, and mince pies wouldn’t be the same without fruit! So I make my own mincemeat with no added sugar:

• 500 gm assorted dried fruit
• Juice and zest of a large orange
• juice and zest of  lemon
• 100 ml cooking sherry
• 50 ml cooking brandy
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 cooking apple
• 75 ml melted coconut oil*

For my mincemeat I tend to use the dried fruit that is left over after cake and pudding making so it changes every year but this year over half was a mixture of currents, raisins, sultanas and cranberries and the rest was  made up of dates, figs, and apricots finely chopped (2).

I then add the juice and the zest of the orange and lemon, the  spices and the alcohol (3), mix it up (4) and leave it to soak overnight. The following day (usually…. as I didn’t have much energy the next few days I think mine was left about 3 nights without a problem!) I peel and finely grate the apple (5) and mix it all in followed by the warmed up coconut oil (6)* and then store it in jars, sterilised with boiling water.

*If you don’t like the flavour of coconut oil in your mincemeat you can use sunflower or another vegetable oil, but warm it up a little anyway to help mix it into the fruit more evenly.

In the next couple of days I’ll post my recipe for the very delicious gluten free pastry I use to make my mince pies!

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