Stir Up Sunday Comes Early

Did you know that Stir Up Sunday is this coming Sunday?  That's only 6 sleeps away ... not sure if this helping you or not, sorry if it's not!  The thing is that I'm not going to be anywhere near the close and comfy confines of my wee kitchen on Sunday, I'll be in the Lake District instead for a nice long weekend, so I decided that I had better get ahead of the game and start to get myself organised. 

We are not huge mince pie fans in this house, although it just doesn't seem to be Christmas without the little blighters.  Every year I try to find new recipes to try out for alternative mince pie filling, Rhubarb and Vanilla is my all time favourite but owing to a particularly bad rhubarb season for me this year I'm having to go without ... sigh.  Then when I was flicking through the December issue of Delicious I spotted a recipe that, with a few tweaks, I could make my own and hopefully find a new alternative.  This is what I came up with;

Buttery Apple, Hazelnut and Chocolate Mincemeat
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 large oranges
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 large lemons
1 large (about 300g) bramley apple
100g butter
50ml frangelico
200g raisins
150g sultanas
150g currants
150g chocolate, grated (I used Willie's Supreme Cacao - Indonesian Black)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp mixed spice
175g light brown sugar
50g lightly toasted hazelnuts, chopped

Put the orange and lemon zest and juices into a medium pan.  Peel, quarter and core the apple, then grate ot, stirring it into the juices as you go so it doesn't discolour.

Add the butter, frangelico, dried fruits, vanilla extract and spices, then cook over a low heat, stirring frequently, for 1 hour until the apple has broken down, the dried fruits have plumped up and all the liquid has evaporated.  Leave to cool, then mix in the sugar, chocolate and toasted hazelnuts.

Spoon into cool, sterilised jars, press a waxed disc onto the surface of the mixture and seal.  Refrigerate and use within 1 month.

Makes about 1.2kg mincemeat

Adapted from Delicious, Dec 10

* Because this mincemeat is made with butter instead of suet, it keeps in the fridge for no more than a month.  However, it freezes well for up to 6 months.  For a mincemeat with a longer shelf life, omit the butter and stir in 100g shredded suet at the end, along with the sugar, chocolate and nuts.  This will keep for up to a year in a cool dark place.

The smell from this mixture bubbling away on the stove for an hour was so Christmassy and comforting.  The mincemeat is now sitting happily in the freezer at the moment, can't wait to sample it in pie form!