Cranberry-Studded Mincemeat

Information

Notes

I used to be old-school about mincemeat, preferring the sort that is really no more than dried fruits stirred up with some brandy, grated apple and suet and stuffed into a jar. It’s certainly easy, since no cooking is involved, but Hettie (who’s had more than a walk-on part in every one of my books since How to Eat), introduced me to the notion of suet-free mincemeat, a recipe I used gratefully in How to be a Domestic Goddess, and which I’ve adapted here to make it garnet-glinting and tartly fruity with cranberries.

I know this doesn’t make a huge amount, but it is enough to fill a good 50 of my little mince pies. It also happens to be the work—if you call tipping things into a pan and then scraping them out again, work—of moments, so if you need more (and it would be beautiful, in a jar, as a present), it’s not going to take much out of you.

I love the louche, old-fashioned mixture of port and brandy (which used to be administered to children for tummy aches) but if you wish to be a little more austere, replace the ruby port with cranberry juice and add another 2 heaped teaspoons to the amount of brown sugar below.

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.

2. Add the cranberries to the saucepan.

3. Then add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves, with the currants, raisins and dried cranberries and the zest and juice of the clementines.

4. Simmer for 20 minutes or until everything looks pulpy and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them.

5. Take off the heat and, when it has cooled a little, stir in the brandy, almond and vanilla extracts and honey and beat once more, vociferously, with your wooden spoon to encourage it to turn into a berry-beaded paste.

6. Spoon the mincemeat into jars.