The Recipe That'll Make You Fall in Love With Mincemeat

About author / Rebecca Michaels

Queen of the desserts and pastry chef extraordinaire; graduate French Culinary Institute; Golden Scoop Award winner; Flying Monkey Bakery founder

Eeeww! That's gross! What's mincemeat? Is it minced meat? And why is there meat in my Christmas pudding anyway? Why would anyone want to put meat in their sweets?

I know you've asked yourself these questions hundreds of times over the years. They burn inside of you every holiday season. What exactly is mincemeat? And why on earth would people want to eat it, whatever it is?

In order to know mincemeat, we must first examine suet, one of the principle ingredients in mincemeat. Suet is the fat rendered from around the beef or mutton loin and kidney. It is an extremely flavorful fat and is used in many English recipes--both savory and sweet--as well as an attractive food for many birds (No wisecracks, people! We have a lot to thank our British brethren for foodwise!). Mincemeat is a sweet combination of suet, dried fruits, spices and nuts cooked in brandy and sugar. Every family has their own mincemeat recipe, no doubt. Some use rum, some use sultanas, and they all use a different combination of "wintery" spices.

If you're feeling a little Dickensian and a lot ambitious, try making mincemeat and giving it away as Christmas gifts this season. You can choose whether or not to tell them what's in it (though I wouldn't want to blindside your vegetarian friends!). Cook it and put it in jars with a nice English-y looking label on it, maybe with a little houndstooth or plaid cloth tied on the lid. And the longer it is jarred, the more the flavors will mellow out. So if your friends are afraid to try it, their procrastination will only lead to a tastier product. That doesn't happen often!

For those of us who don't have the time to make mincemeat, there are a few quality store-bought brands that are quite good. Mincemeat comes either dried in a box and requires reconstitution or in jars already good to go. I find the jar variety slightly more flavorful, but sometimes the stuff is hard to find regardless, so go with the dried if you've no other choice.

There are many fine recipes for mincemeat pies, tarts and cakes. I'm including my grandmother Catherine's absolutely delicious Mincemeat Brownie recipe which uses store-bought mincemeat. It will serve you well; it freezes like a dream and keeps at least a week in an airtight tin. That's the beauty of mincemeat: it acts as an excellent preservative and retains moisture in your baked goods thanks to the high amounts of sugar and liquor.

Make the Mincemeat Brownies in an 8" round cake pan and put it in a festive holiday tin whole. Give the tin a nice happy ribbon, add a little card or sticker and you've got a delicious gift for your friends. Just make sure you're there when they open it so they'll be forced to try it and admit how positively delicious it is!

Serves/Makes: 12

• 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup soft butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup drained mincemeat
• 1/2 cup coarse chopped walnuts
• confectioners' sugar, for sprinkling