What have OcUK'ers made for xmas already?

Col_M

Col_M

Col_M

Soldato
Joined
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Just wondering if any of you have made a start on your xmas grub?

I imagine that those of you who are making fruitcakes or puds have done them a good while ago and have been drip feeding them brandy :)

I just knocked up a batch of mincemeat and am letting it sit overnight, I didn't have any nutmeg though (I thought I did) so I'm off to Tesco tomorrow to get some. I just used this recipe. I replaced the veg suet with beef suet as I have no veggies to worry about. I'll be heating and jarring it up tomorrow, then I should have just over 1.5kg of nicely matured mincemeat for loads of mince pies.
I can't stop going over and sniffing it, it smells so good! :cool:

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I stuck it in the oven for a few hours at 120C to stop it fermenting when stored, then jarred it up with an extra splash of brandy, this is what I have now...

1.6kg of home made mincemeat
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It not only smells amazing it tastes spot on too, it'll be even better when December comes around and it has matured :D
 
I think I'm going to make some mince pies this year. I assume they are pretty straight forward? I'm a decent enough cook.

Got any tips on how to make it awesomer, maybe something you'd do differently next time or add something else to it?
 
This is the first time I've tried it too so I pretty much followed the recipe. I did add a little extra brandy though so we'll see how it is when I open the jars in December, I should have a better idea of any improvements then.

As far as how straight forward it is, it's dead simple, the mincemeat is just a case of throwing everything together, so is sweet shortcrust pastry, assembling the pies is easy too, just a spoonful of mincemeat between 2 disks of pastry in a pie/tartlet tin. For the minimal effort it's well worth it I think.

I'd make the mince now though so that it can mature for a month or so.
 
Noted. Will try and get the ingredients tomorrow and start it next week.
Where in the supermarket would I find candied peel? In the cake section, near the icing/hundreds and thousands sort of area?
 
That's what I thought. I actually work in a supermarket, but thankfully it's not on the shop floor. Always awkward when I'm walking to my department and a customer asks me where something is!

I shall let you know how I get on, cheers.
 
I made my mincemeat at the weekend. It's an orange and cranberry mincemeat and I gopt the recipe from the Metro. It looked good and it looked right, so it got made! Wow, it's amazing compared to shop-bought :D

Going to make a pud tonight. Seriously got not time this year though :(

Gimpy, you can make it last minute if you want. No need to let it sit for weeks :)
 
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