Mince Pies are Delightfully Old Fashioned

Right behind out house is a big apple tree that we've discovered is a Tompkins King.  It's called "King" for good reason.  Introduced to this country around 1800, this apple does it all.  The tree produces large fruits the size of a softball.  They are crisp and sweet and keep well.  They are good for baking, eating raw, making sauce and they even work for cider.  While I'm glad for the other, more interesting bit-players in our apple orchard, the King rules them all.  After I'm finished preserving the harvest in all the conventional ways, I take a few pounds of those Kings and make mincemeat out of them.

King Henry V was served mincemeat pie at his coronation in 1413.  This traditional British pie originated at the end of the Crusades when exotic spices were brought home.  Served at Christmastime, the star of pastry on top represented the Star of Bethlehem.  In Victorian times, mincemeat got a little sweeter, and was made in the late fall, heavily seasoned and soaked in brandy and left in the root cellar for months as an instant pie filling.  During colder months, the mincemeat and even the pies themselves could be made in bulk and kept for long periods without spoilage due to the sugar, spice and alcohol content.

Homemade mincemeat is delightfully old fashioned.  My mom says she always made two pumpkin and one mince pie for Thanksgiving in her family as a kid.  When I lived in England for a few years, I discovered this dessert for myself through the ubiquitous little pies everyone brought to holiday parties.  When I moved back to the States, I decided to make some myself, but none of my English friends had a recipe to share.  "Why make them, when you can buy them in the store?"  Well, I can't argue with that, but I couldn't find any for sale in Clark County, so I looked up a recipe in my trusty British cookbook, Delia: Complete Cookery Course.  Delia Smith, in my opinion, is the ultimate authority on traditional British cooking.

While mincemeat originally contained beef or venison, it rarely does these days.  Modern cooks have replaced the minced meat with dried fruit and nuts.  In fact, it's often made 100% vegetarian by swapping coconut oil for the more traditional beef suet used to lubricate the filling.  But both taste great.

To make the pies, simply use your cupcake tin.  the pictures here show a slightly rounded tin, but that's because I finally purchased a mince pie tart pan.  it's the only thing I use it for.  Cut 4 to 4 1/2 inch pastry rounds to line your greased tart pan, fill with mincemeat and top with a star, or even a full top crust with vents cut out.  Here is the pie crust recipe I use.  Brush with milk and bake for 25-30 minutes at 400F.  Also, the candied peel can be hard to find, but this is the site I buy it from.

Preserved with brandy, a mince pie keeps a long time.  And while it is much easier to bake one large pie, I'm still in love with the small, individual pies topped with a star of pastry and given a snow-like dusting of powdered sugar. Baked ahead, I can pop them into the toaster oven to have warm with tea in the afternoon.

(Excerpt reprinted from the North Bank Now Magazine.)