All-Fruit Mincemeat

This recipe for homemade all-fruit mincemeat filling will make your kitchen smell absolutely sublime.

Ingredients:

• 2 apples, finely chopped
• 2 pears, finely chopped
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1 cup raisins, Sultana or Thompson
• ½ cup golden raisins
• ½ cup dried apricots, finely chopped
• 1 cup currants
• ½ cup candied peel or orange marmalade
• 1 ½ cups dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup butter
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (or ½ tsp ea cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)
• 1 tsp finely grated ginger
• ½ cup dark rum or brandy
• Optional to add any or all of the following:
  • ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans
  • ¼ cup dried cranberries
  • ½ cup dried cherries
• Note: This recipe is vegetarian, and if you’re vegan you can absolutely forgo the butter altogether or sub in a solid vegetable shortening like Crisco.

Method:

1. In a large saucepan, combine all of the ingredients except the alcohol and the nuts (if you’re using them).
2. Bring to a simmer and cook over low heat, stirring often, for 40 minutes until the dried fruit is plump and the liquid is dark golden and syrupy.
3. Remove from heat and stir in the alcohol and optional nuts. Store in an air-tight container in the fridge. This definitely tastes better with age, but honestly it’s hard to wait.
4. Spoon into premade tart shells (or make your own pastry if you really want to go all the way), top with a pastry cut-out, and bake at 350⁰F for 15-20 minutes until the pastry is golden. I like to dip the top of the pastry cut-out in coarse sugar for an extra special glittery crunch.

You’ll notice I’m a recipe up-front kind of person. I absolutely loathe sites that make you scroll past four childhood anecdotes, eighteen full-screen photos of the process, a family tree, twenty video ads that will auto-play at full volume, and an undergraduate dissertation before you find the recipe buried at the bottom—if you can see it at all behind the banner ads and the pop-up newsletter offer that has no X in the corner. So annoying.

Enjoy the recipe. Read something delightful (like this poem or this flash fiction) whilst you feast on mincemeat tarts. You’re welcome.