mince pies

ft. my old trusty mincemeat recipe and a new wholemeal shortcrust pastry

What I’m reading: Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton. I’ve had this book in my stash for a few months now and am only getting around to getting stuck into it now - and I don’t know why I waited so long. It’s immediately compelling and beautifully written.

What I’m listening to: Meera Sodha on Table Manners.

What I’m eating: perhaps the best meal I’ve eaten this year at Sabor (below). Highlights included the tortilla, tuna and oyster (below)

I don’t know about you, but Christmas really snuck up on me this year. I think this is an occupational hazard of working in hospitality, where December is often the busiest month of the year. It really feels like I woke up the other morning to Christmas lights everywhere I look - and I encountered my first carollers of the year yesterday (my current favourite carol is O Come All Ye Faithful if you were wondering).

I spent last Christmas with my best friends in New Zealand, which was great. We went a few hours north of Auckland to the Bay of Islands and had a barbecue and made pōhutukawa cocktails and swam in the sea. It was a really lovely day - but it didn’t really feel like Christmas. I think that’s why I’m so excited for Christmas this year. I’m going home to Dublin a few days before Christmas, and am positively giddy at the thought of Christmas pints, sea swims (albeit much colder than in New Zealand), and mulled wine.

I’m also a huge fan of mince pies, and have been making a variation of the same recipe for the last few years - since I wrote my first column for the Irish Times (picture below). I usually make a big batch of mincemeat in October or November, and give it a few healthy feeds of whiskey in the lead up to Christmas. I like a mincemeat with no nuts (this may be controversial, but I find that they go soggy once they make contact with all the liquid), a nice ratio of raisins, sultanas and - crucially - dried cranberries, and a healthy dose of whiskey and Disaronno.

For this year’s mince pies, I’ve opted for a slightly more traditional pastry (shortcrust) with the addition of some of Wildfarmed’s wholemeal flour. The mincemeat recipe makes more than you’ll need, but I recommend making a batch this size - you can make a few batches of mince pies over the next few weeks (give some to your neighbours for maximum festive joy), and any leftover mincemeat should keep in a sealed container until next year (although I haven’t actually tried this myself).

recipe: mince pies

(pastry makes enough for about 12-15, mincemeat makes a decent-sized batch)

Mincemeat