I tried you don't have to.

These Tesco mince pies are delicious - at a price. £2.25 for box of 6.

One of the joys of mincemeat is that the recipe is so flexible. Mixed fruit, mixed spice and, possible, suet (beef or meatfree) are probably the essentials, but after that, add or deduct whatever you please. my mincemeat is nut free because 2 family members have a nut allergy, you, aggie never add brandy. That's its joy, it is flexible

Am I the only person that never adds alcohol to mincemeat or Christmas Cake ? I do add a bottle of stout to the puddings .
My cake is usually still delicious and keeps well
I did add Brandy from a bottle confiscated from a teenager one year ! It gave me terrible heartburn !
Said child told me is was only what I deserved !!

I make my own and add cooked apple to a jar of cheap mincemeat from any of the supermarkets. Shortcrust pastry.

Tried the Tesco mince pies and we like them. Not too sweet and the pastry is good.

I've made Delia Smith's mincemeat before and enjoyed it - not sure I can be bothered this year.

My recipe doesn't include the zest of oranges, just the juice from a lemon

Here is my recipe: ( I have suddenly realised, I should have zested the lemon!) but I was away with the fairies when I made it this year. I was convinced I always made double the quantity and I am now hawking the excess round the family!

Anyway, here goes:
1lb mixed fruit, 2 oz glace cherries (chopped) 4 oz shredded apple, grated rind and juice of one lemon, 6oz brown sugar (I use muscovado), 4 oz suet, 1 teaspoon mixed spice, 2tbsps brandy.
Put all the ingredients in a big bowl and stir well, cover and leave for 2 days, stirring regularly, then pot.

The original recipe included 2 ozs of chopped walnuts, but as DDiL and DGD have nut allergies, I do not put them in. I am also generous with the brandy.

When I made it it took a long time to zest the oranges and it seemed like a lot of prep. I like buying the shop one and adding what I want to it (alcohol , cherries and sliced almonds!) because it saves me messing around with ingredients I would only use once that would probably get wasted.

M0nica, can you share your recipe please?

O&U How do you make your mincemeat that it is so much work? I just take a bowl, work my way down the list of ingredients bunging them in the bowl - then stir. Done in dusted in under 15 minutes.

HettyBetty Mince meat to your requirements? Just take an ordinary mince meat recipe, use vegetarian/vegan suet. Atora make it and it is usually alongside the beef suet on the supermarket shelf. Leave out the nuts and replace the alcohol with fruit juice. However, once made, I would keep it in the fridge and use within a month or so, as the main purpose of the alcohol is as a preservative.

Wow! Did you bring them in to share Joseann? They look great, I’ll have a couple please.

M0nica

OnwardsandUpward By the time you have done all that, you might as well make your own mincemeat. It takes maybe, ten minutes. I haven't bought mincemeat since I dicovered how easy it was to make my own.

Yes I have done that before and you can't top it - but it's quite a lot of work and I've found it possible to fake it with the addition of a few ingredients

There is nothing like home made. I won't be trying any of the stuff in the shops.

And we're off, 2022 trial runs for Christmas.
Can't beat homemade. 😋

Well, I decided to try to make a gf desert shortcrust pastry for an apple and blackberry pie today.

I was extremely pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out.

I shall now make my mince pies using this recipe.

I shall also give a Christmas cake and pudding a go. I haven’t done so for years as last time I tried making a Christmas cake it was like bread pudding.

Stir-up Sunday here we come😄.

Any recommendations for vegan, alcohol free, nut free mince pies?

Yes, I could make them myself but I really cannot be bothered. I'm happy to go without though if necessary.

And Lidl make a lovely matured Xmas pud.

Quick vote here for the M&S Genoa cake if you prefer something un-iced - it's decorated with cherries, brazil nuts and almonds. It's a bar so easy to store and slice. It somehow feels to me that a less festive-looking cake contains fewer calories!

MrsKen33

Sainsbury’s frangipane mince pies a lovely.

Thank you MrsKen I looked at them last week and wondered about trying them. Liked the M&S ones so no reason why I shouldn't like these too!!

Every bought mince pie I have ever tasted has been revolting. The cook at DD3's primary school made the best mince pies ever. Sadly she has now retired. I can live without mince pies but it was lovely to eat one perfect one a year at the school xmas do. 🥧

OnwardsandUpward By the time you have done all that, you might as well make your own mincemeat. It takes maybe, ten minutes. I haven't bought mincemeat since I dicovered how easy it was to make my own.

The best mince pies are when you get shop bought mince meat and add some orange zest, alcohol and cherries with sliced almonds, let it sit for a month- then get shop bought puff pastry and make your own. Eat them with Baileys cream and YUM

We had a Cadbury's chocolate pud tonight as a treat. A solid, round chocolate with crispy bits too. Lovely. 55p each.

I make my own mince pies (well bought pastry and bought mincemeat) I find them much nicer than shop ones which always have too much pastry for me. But I did try Aldi's Rum and salted caramel flavoured mince pies, which were recommended by the BBC. They were rather nice.

Aldi mini mince pies are our favoutite can eat one without feeling bad as lower in calories They look nice with a pastry star on the top and even our 3 yearold granddaughter wanted to try one because the star cake looked pretty she said Grandad can try one of those too and ate most of it saying i dont like jam pies mummy says but i like yours
Children never fail to make us smile do they !!!!

I agree Morag. Lovely short pastry and plenty of filling.

Aldi mince pies are amazing.

Has anybody tried the mince pies with a frangipan topping from Costco. They are absolutely delicious but enormous!