Planning ahead

Before I came away I made some mincemeat. Last year I had tried this for the first time and it was so delicious I decided I’d do some more, but also have a play around with some of the flavours. I think the key is to keep the quantities about the same. So for example, I made an apple and apricot one, and a pear and ginger version. In the Apple one, I used calvados as the liquor, and the pear one had limoncello.

We will need to wait and see now how they turn out.

Basic recipe, which I doubled for each batch, and have made about 10 pots.

250g of dried fruit - use a mixture of currants, sultanas, raisins - or what you have in the cupboard.

50g dried apricots - for the pear and ginger recipe I added more sultanas instead of apricots

100g sugar

one apple or pear

rind of one lemon

juice of one lemon

60g melted butter

1 teaspoon of mixed spice, plus a dash of cinnamon and ground nutmeg.

for the pear and ginger recipe I added about a finger of finely chopped ginger root, and a teaspoon of ground ginger.

finally 50ml of liqueur either brandy or, as I did, calvados brandy for the apple one, and limoncello for the pear one.

You then mix all the ingredients together and leave in the fridge for a few days to soak up all the liquid. Stir occasionally.

I then filled some sterilised jars, and will keep them in the fridge now until ready to use. They will keep for about 6 months in the fridge. Ours will be eaten way quicker than that!