feeling ( quite a lot ) festive !

 

 

The mincemeat is made and the mince pies are baked !

 

Of all the culinary preparations in the run up to Christmas, making mincemeat is one of my favourites.

 A bit of chopping, stirring and mixing makes for a perfect relaxing pastime on a dull, wintry afternoon.

And the added bonus is that you can tweak the basic recipe to suit you own taste.

 

This year, I made my usual recipe which you can read about here but left out the mixed peel and instead added dried cranberries for a change.

 

 

 

 

But I also decided to try out an idea for quick mincemeat which I had seen in an old copy of Waitrose Kitchen.

The suggestion from Dan Lepard, of bread making fame, was to add chopped prunes, orange zest and orange juice or brandy to a jar of bought mincemeat.

 

The result was much more liquid than my usual recipe and slightly more acidic, but delicious nonetheless.

 

 

So this year we have two different sorts of mince pie to sample over the festive period.

 

 

Mr digandweed felt it was his duty, as quality controller, to try one and declared them to be 'probably the best mince pies he had ever tasted'

 

He certainly knows how to make a girl happy !

 

So, with the Christmas cake made and the mince pies baked ( and in the freezer) I can definitely say that chez fenland lottie

 

'it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas'



Tra ..la..la..la!