Cinnamon Spiced Mincemeat
After making your own mincemeat, you won’t go back to the store-bought type, trust me. I had been putting off making my own fruity spiced mincemeat for a few years actually. I always believed it was like a Christmas cake and needed to be made a couple of months in advance, letting it stew and infuse for a long time. After a quick look into plant-based and natural mincemeats, I soon found out this isn’t the case at all. There’s also little need for sterilised jam jars, and it couldn’t be easier to make.
I love how spiced this mincemeat is, without being overly sweet. It makes a delicious addition to my December bowls of porridge – although, to be honest, mince pie season started in October in my household! It is also delicious piled high into breakfast bowls of yoghurt and granola, spooned straight from the jar or, of course, in your homemade mince pies.
I’ve always made mince pies with my mum at home, and I have such strong and fond memories of my childhood. Helping to roll out the pastry, cutting out the shapes and filling the puddings full with mincemeat – that’s always been my favourite part! So here is a recipe in honour of those fun-filled hours spent in the kitchen, singing along to Christmas songs, dancing round the kitchen and sneaking spoonfuls of mincemeat.
Cinnamon Spiced Mincemeat
Naturally sweetened, this mincemeat is filled with juicy, plump dried fruits and flavoured with warming winter spices.
Ingredients
- 2 apples, cored and chopped
- 250g dried mixed fruit (raisins, cranberries, dried cherries etc.)
- 1 tsp each: cinnamon, ground ginger, mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- 190ml orange juice
Directions
- Add all of the ingredients to a large saucepan and stir to combine.
- Bring to the boil and simmer with a lid ajar for 30 minutes until all the fruit is soft and most of the liquid has been absorbed. Stir occasionally to avoid crushing all the apple pieces and add a splash more juice if the mincemeat is becoming too dry.
- Allow to cool fully before storing in an airtight container in the fridge for 1 week.
Are you a mincemeat lover, do you make your own? I’d love to hear your thoughts and see your creations,so, please tag me on Instagram, I’m @nourishing.amy and use the hashtag #nourishingamy. You can also find me on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest – do say hi!
With Mincemeat love x
Your homemade Mince Meat looks super and so natural. I am not to keen on cranberries would I be able to sub them for something else? I must make this- since I am not to keen on shop brought ones, I love seeing the little pies with pastry stars ⭐️ on top with icing sugar on top. This year I must make my own homemade mince pies since my Nan used to love making them for me. Bless her she is ?😇 ahh hope you understand above. Aww would you be able to share a recipe on how to make Amy’s special homemade Mince Pies? I definitely need one, wish me luck as I always burn my cooking I need more confidence in myself. Have a great week xxxx 😊🎉🌲xxxx
Hi Sophie, yes just use any extra dried fruit instead of the cranberries. I hope you’ll love them! xx
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Is this fresh or carton (concentrated) orange juice? It looks really good
Hi Anna, thanks so much! You could use either type of orange juice for this, I just use a carton that is fresh rather than concentrated but that would work too! Enjoy it 🙂
Thank you!
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I’ve made this mincemeat two years running now. I don’t even bother with the store bought mincemeat anymore. This year I tried this recipe with 2 small persimmons instead of the apples for a change and it was really good! You have to reduce the orange juice to 150ml and only cook it for 10-15 minutes as persimmons are softer than apples. I also added about 1/2tsp of almond essence because almonds go so well with persimmons.
this makes me so happy to hear Anna, thank you so much! And I love that you’ve used persimmons, I am going to have to pick some up to try this, thank you for the tip!