< Christmas
< Christmas Food

Snowball Truffles
Medlar Jelly
Real Meat Mince Pies
Chocolate-dipped Orange Peel
Speculaas Biscuits
Apricot and Ginger Mincemeat
Caribbean Christmas Cake
Tamsin’s Mum’s Christmas Pudding
Italian Christmas Cake
Christmas Gingerbread Houses

Apricot and Ginger Mincemeat

Home-made mincemeat is so full of gorgeous juicy flavour you won’t ever want to go back to bought. It’s also a doddle to make – just chop, mix and leave overnight.

Makes 4 x 500g jars

500g dried apricots
100g crystallised ginger
500g cooking apples
375g currants
250g sultanas or raisins
100g sour cherries
125g chopped almonds
375g Demerara sugar
175g vegetarian suet
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Juice and rind of 2 lemons
Juice and rind of 1 large orange
150ml ginger wine
150ml brandy


Chop apricots and ginger. Place in a large mixing bowl. Peel and core the apples and chop finely. Place in the bowl together with the rest of the ingredients. Stir well. Cover the bowl and leave overnight. Give it one last stir before you bottle it in sterilised jars and keep for a week before using, but it won’t do any harm if you use it straight away.