Do you eat mince pies at Christmas?

oakapple

oakapple

Senior Member
Location
Oxford England
We have a tradition of making [or buying!] small mince pies to eat at or near Christmas, do other countries do this?This is sweet mincemeat [don't worry, no meat in it, although there used to be several hundred years ago, hence the name.]This is made up of dried fruit and spices, and put into small decorative pies or tarts, very yummy served warm with a dollop of cream.
 

Nope I don't make them, and I don't buy ready made ones...wayy too sweet for me, plus pastry gives me indigestion..
 

Ah but we are all from the UK.Holly, if you shop around for the jar of mincemeat there are some gorgeous ones and not too sweet [although I know what you mean]. What a shame that pastry gives you indigestion, does even your own pastry do that?
 
We don`t have a tradition of making many of them here but some people do always include at least one on their holiday dessert menu-along with pumpkin and apple. I don`t care for mincemeat-but if I`m honest,I really don`t think I`ve ever even tasted it LOL. One of those things left over from childhood,I guess. My son in law,however,loves mincemeat pie. His late mom would always make him one-he was the only child out of 12 children who would eat it. That`s probably why he lied it-most likely the only thing he could ever get his fill of,being the youngest lol.
 
Thanks Mrs Robinson , I didn't know if mincemeat had made it over the pond to where you are! I also love Christmas cake and Christmas pudding.
 
I used to make my own mincemeat, Christmas cake and Christmas puddings.
turns out; nobody liked the cake; particularly the marzipan; the Christmas puddings were declared to be ok; far too much work; and good mince meat is fine!
 
oakapple said:
Ah but we are all from the UK.Holly, if you shop around for the jar of mincemeat there are some gorgeous ones and not too sweet [although I know what you mean]. What a shame that pastry gives you indigestion, does even your own pastry do that?
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Nope I'd still hate it lol..I can't stand chopped stewed fruit , particularly if it's got candied peel in it as well...yep my own pastry gives me heartburn too..
 
hollydolly said:
Nope I'd still hate it lol..I can't stand chopped stewed fruit , particularly if it's got candied peel in it as well...yep my own pastry gives me heartburn too..
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What a shame as that rules out so many delicious things Holly, [thinking warm sausage rolls, Cornish pasties and Melton Mowbray pork pies!
 
Not us, although I got a free one from McCains where I had a short term job one Christmas and I was the only one who could eat it. I'm also the only one in my family who can stand xmas fruitcake, but it has to be very dark with marzipan icing - also hard to find and expensive on top of it. We stick to good old apple and pumpkin pies and apple crumble with ice cream and of course trifle made with lots of rum.
 
It varies; but is basically a mixture of dried fruit, sometimes candied peel, I sometimes add chopped Apple, and it can have a little spice...
 
Mincemeat, is a dark sticky mix of raisins, nuts, dried fruit and something called suet (meat fat) and brandy. I have seen jars sold in the supermarket but a bit pricy for my budget. There are recipes online but I'm not tempted to try making it. There are also mincemeat tarts that are sound tasty. Not tempted to make them myself, but I would definitely accept a small piece if offered.
 
It's something you should all at least try..... who knows, you may love it! We don't make large pies here, the mince pies/tarts we have are just a few mouthfulls.Goes well with a nice hot cup of coffee.
 
I can't say I ever even tried a mince pie, and didn't know what was in it either, it almost sounds like a fruitcake pie. :p
 
Vivjen said:
I shall be making some more next week....drop in if you are passing...
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Would you consider an emergency trip to Alabama before the Holidays, Vivjen ? ?

Mincemeat pie has been my most favorite ever since I was a little girl, and my grandmother used to make her own mincemeat. She actually made true mincemeat, and it had the minced scraps of venison after the winter deer had been cut up and put in the freezer.
We always had mincemeat pies for both Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I can't make piecrust, so I always bought the mince pie from the store bakery, or even the frozen ones, and had those (after I was grown up) for many years.
Then, they just kind of stopped making mince meat pies, and now you can't find them very often unless you buy the jar of mincemeat and make your own.
My mother-in-law from my first marriage was from England, and she would make mince tarts. That wonderful lady made pie crust from Heaven ! ! (she used lard)
They never lasted long enough to even cool down.
The whole family hovered like vultures around the oven, smelling the wonderful scent of the cooking mince tarts; and didn't mind that we burned ourselves because we ate them as fast as they came out of the oven.

Maybe if she had made 30 at once like you Jen; there would have at least been a couple left to cool down.
Probably not......
 
They are also a tradition in Australia, but neither hubby or myself like them. For a start they are way to sweet and we are not into pastry dishes either sweet or savoury. I have purchased them in the past and found regardless of price they have very little filling more like a syrup soaked pastry.
We prefer to eat dried fruit like raisins, dates and dried apricots, peaches (we grow and dry the apricot and peaches)
 

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