How To Make The Perfect Mince Pie

Ahh, the eternal quest for the perfect mince pie!  This has been a long-standing theme in my family – for many years we would gather at my brother Simon’s house at Christmas time clutching boxes of mince pies, along with my twin brother who also came armed with mince pie goodies. We would have collected supplies and samples from every shop we could think of and spend the evening sampling, comparing and scoring to judge which was the best we could find that year.

I’m never convinced we did find that elusive perfect mince pie back then – as a result we now bake our own and they get shared out across the family via our Mum (aka our very own kitchen Fairy at Sugar Bowl Bakes) to our respective houses as life is sometimes too busy now to all meet up for mince pie evenings! Simon is still the chief score giver – if he likes them we know we have made a winning pie that year! My eldest brother Jason likes to mix it up a bit and has played with many recipes over the years; adding water, spices and even grated zest into his pastry. I tend to like to keep things more traditional and you can find my recipe below – and yes, I have been voted family winner on more than one occasion!

Did you know that mince pies date back to 1390 when a recipe was found in an English cookbook called A Forme of Cury. Written on a scroll, mince pies were found under the title ‘Tartes of the Flesh’ – I’m not sure our family would have had so much fun tasting pies if they’d have been meat-based. Not even Simon has been brave enough to try one with meat and fruit!

In Tudor times they made mince pies in the shape of a manger, with a pastry-formed baby Jesus placed on top. Tudors filled the pies with dried fruits such as figs and raisins along with spices, even adding honey at times. And a savoury mince pie was the main tradition – lamb and mutton were mixed in before beef became the main ingredient. It was only in the Victorian period that the traditional mince pie was given the twist of being a sweet treat – although the use of suet in the recipe still remains today.

Today our mince pies remain firmly on the dessert table (although if it’s different in your household I’d love to hear from you!), often dusted with icing sugar and served up with brandy cream or custard. In my house we love a heaped spoonful of thick clotted cream, yum!

I like to use pre-made jars of mincemeat because, well, life’s too short. But if you fancy making your own, here is an easy recipe you can follow Easy mincemeat recipe | BBC Good Food

Don’t forget when making your mincemeat, or Christmas pudding for that matter, there is a tradition to stir the mixture in a clockwise direction and make a wish. My Mum, the kitchen fairy makes all our Christmas puddings in the family but I always make sure I head to her house for that once-a-year special wish!