Making Star topped cranberry mincepies (Like Nigella Lawson)

 Well I feel most encouraged, having read and looked at a number of recent Blogs. Well done guys – you’re doing a really excellent job (some of you!)

I want to tell you about a recent think I made at home… I was watching Nigella Lawson’s Christmas (Deep Freeze episode) and I liked how she made a cranberry studded mincemeat for her star topped mince pies. I thought they looked yummy, and the recipe seemed quite straight forward, so I purchased some cranberries and I made it yesterday when I got in from work. Very nice too! I will post the pictures of the pies when I make those… Stay tuned!

This is the recipe I followed, more or less as it was on the website:

Ingredients

• 75g/2½oz soft dark brown sugar
• 60ml/2fl oz ruby port (I used red wine and cooking sherry as I had no port…)
• 300g/10½oz cranberries
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp ground ginger
• ½ tsp ground cloves
• 75g/2½oz currants (I used 150g mixed fried fruit as that is what I had in…)
• 75g/2½oz raisins
• 30g/1oz dried cranberries
• 1 clementine, zest and juice only (satsuma for me…)
• 25ml/1fl oz brandy (Tia Maria… I don’t buy brandy)
• few drops almond extract
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp honey

Preparation method

1. In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.
2. Add the cranberries and stir.
3. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves, currants, raisins, dried cranberries and the zest and juice of the clementine. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has broken down and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. (You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them fully.)
4. Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little.
5. Add the brandy, almond extract, vanilla extract and honey and stir well with a wooden spoon to mash the mixture down into a paste.
6. Spoon the mincemeat into sterilised jars and, once cool, store in the fridge for up to two weeks.