My mother, proud of her British heritage, loves mincemeat pie. This spiced dessert is a tradition to make around the holidays. In fact, English families leave out a slice of mincemeat pie for Father Christmas instead of cookies and milk. It’s supposedly even good luck to eat mincemeat pie on each of the 12 days of Christmas. But many people have never heard of it or are hesitant to try it. I must confess, the name mincemeat freaked me out a bit when I was a kid.
What Is Mincemeat Pie?
Mincemeat or mince pie is a British delicacy for the holiday season that traces back to the kings and queens of the Middle Ages, or even earlier. The recipe was developed as a way to preserve meat, such as mutton or beef, without salt or smoke. The “minced” meat, or suet, was mixed with dried fruits and spices like cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, then baked into a pie.
Reader Connie Hammond of Fort Madison, Iowa, recalls helping her grandma, mom and two of her grandma’s sisters prepare it. “Mincemeat is a wonderful pie filling with cooked ground beef, chopped apples and raisins, plus spices and juices for flavor. It took all day to make,” she writes. “We ground the beef finely with a hand-crank grinder and cooked it, peeled and chopped Jonathan apples, and then mixed and simmered the stuff to perfection.”
Mincemeat has evolved to reflect changing tastes, and it’s now often meatless—simply a delicious blend of fruits and spices. After all, even the royals eat differently these days.
Easy Mincemeat Pie Recipe
Our Test Kitchen’s favorite mincemeat pie comes from Laverne Kamp of Kutztown, Pennsylvania. This recipe is a twist on a traditional mincemeat pie that includes chopped walnuts. You can save time and buy prepared mincemeat instead of making your own. My mom prefers None Such Ready-to-Use Mincemeat ($6).
Ingredients:
- Pastry for single-crust pie (9 inches)
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups prepared mincemeat
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup butter, melted
Directions
Step 1: Prepare the crust
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9-in. pie plate with pastry, then trim and flute the edges. You can use a store-bought pie crust or follow our step-by-step pie crust guide to make your own.
Editor’s tip: My mom adds a secret ingredient to her mincemeat pie pastry. Get the tip for tender, flaky pie crust.
Step 2: Mix up the pie filling
In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Combine the sugar, flour and salt, and gradually add the dry ingredients to the eggs. Stir in prepared mincemeat, chopped walnuts and melted butter. Pour the filling mixture into your prepared crust.
Step 3: Bake the pie
Bake the pie for 15 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 325 and bake until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, approximately 35-40 minutes. Allow the pie to cool completely, then store it in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
How to Serve Mincemeat Pie
As a tasty finishing touch, Laverne says she and her husband put a dollop of vanilla ice cream on top of their mincemeat pie slices. This dessert will warm you up even when winter is frosty.
Now go turn on the Great British Baking Show (psst—here’s our favorite copycat recipes from the show), brew a pot of tea and enjoy!
Try These Classic Desserts Next
1 / 50
Grandma’s Old-Fashioned Strawberry Shortcake
When my grandma served this shortcake, she usually topped it with homemade vanilla ice cream. —Angela Lively, Conroe, Texas
Marzipan Cups with Currant Jelly
A staple in European kitchens, marzipan is a delicious almond paste used in pies, tarts and pastries. Here we pair it with a nice sharp jelly and a tender pastry crust. The petite treats evoke old-world cafes, but aren't too hard for real cooks to make.
Burnt Custard
OK, officially creme brulee often appears on the dessert menu at restaurants. Consider making it at home, as it's satisfying to melt sugar into a hard caramel cap for your creamy custard.
Lemon Chess Pie with Berry Sauce
An English transplant, chess pie is now most associated with the American South. A recipe for the pie appeared in Martha Washington's 1700's "Booke of Cookery."
Homemade Butterscotch Pudding
Until the invention of boxed pudding mixes, homemade pudding was considered a simple family dessert. That's how easy it is to make. This recipe calls for common pantry ingredients.
Almond Torte
Layers of airy meringue and creamy custard float above the cake plate, slivered almonds adding flavor and crunch. Towering meringue cakes were popular in the 1970's, but similar European cakes date back much farther.
Meringue Snowballs In Custard
Known as "floating islands," this exotic dessert sends a fluffy meringue sailing across a sea of custard. Our version of the recipe is over 100 years old, an heirloom handed down from a reader's Russian great-grandmother.
Mango Gelatin Salad
Hearken back to the 50's and 60's, when gelatin and sugar-stuffed molds were considered "salad." Carry this quivering orange mold into the dining room and watch guests' jaws drop. It's delicious served alongside meat (really), or as a dessert, perhaps with some cool whipped topping.
Mocha Baked Alaskas
Though historical, with roots in an 1830's dessert called Omelette Norwegge, baked Alaska nevertheless feels like the height of 1950's kitsch. It's also delicious. Meringue, ice cream, sauce...what's not to like?
Shoofly Cupcakes
Flies will bother you if you make this pie. It's filled with ooey molasses and topped with delicious crumble topping. It was invented around the 1880's by the Pennsylvania Dutch, who ate the pie for breakfast alongside strong coffee. Our recipe borrows the flavor of the classic pie and turns it into that 2000's favorite: the cupcake.
Charlotte's Green Tomato Pie
Vintage recipes often called for ingredients that modern cooks might throw away. Here, green tomatoes transform into a sweet-tart dessert pie that'll have guests guessing what exotic fruit you used.
Strawberry Ice Cream Charlotte
Charlottes are elegant and old. They're thought to be named for Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III of England, who ruled in the late 18th century. They're not very common any more, possibly because they appear quite fiddly. Really, they rely on careful construction more than baking prowess. Our modern version is a refreshing ice cream charlotte with some very anachronistic ingredients, including marshmallow creme.
Grandma's Divinity
Meringue meets nougat in this classic dessert, which dates back to the early 20th century. One of its five ingredients is corn syrup, and historians believe the candy was invented by Karo to promote its brand-new product.
Cherry Gelatin Supreme
Popular midcentury ingredients like gelatin, cherry pie filling, mayonnaise, mini marshmallows, and crushed pineapple merge to form a delightfully tacky, decidedly delicious dessert.
Lemonade Icebox Pie
Icebox cakes and pies go back to the 1920's, when home refrigeration was just becoming mainstream. Recipes were often printed on the backs of pudding and cake mix packages.
Skillet Blueberry Slump
Don't let the homey, almost unappetizing name "slump" fool you. Easier than pie, these baked summer fruit desserts are topped with tasty biscuits.
Figgy Apple Brie Tart
Carols sing of figgy pudding, a British steamed dessert stuffed with raisins and currants (but not figs), doused with brandy, and set on fire. That's all fine and dandy, but modern times call for a more relaxed dessert. This figgy tart pairs fruit with cheese, adhering to the old tradition of blending savory ingredients into desserts.
Fresh Plum Crumb Dessert
For frugal cooks of yore, even bread crumbs were saved and used in savory and sweet dishes. This recipe is an old-fashioned dessert: fruit baked under a layer of crumble topping. Modern crumb toppings often use flour in place of bread crumbs, but if you've got a few slices of stale old bread, blitz them in the blender. Toss with butter and sugar, and enjoy the extra crunch.
Old-Fashioned Honey Baked Apples
Easy to make and (relatively) healthy, baked apples should be a go-to dessert for busy families today. They're almost certainly ancient, as all you really need to make them are apples and fire. In the 18th century, baked fruits were typically stuffed with meat and eaten savory rather than sweet.
Apple Roly-Poly
Roly-poly is a cozy English dessert as fun to say as it is to eat. Biscuit dough tucked around fresh fruit and topped with a quick caramel sauce, it's a fun alternative to pie.
Grandmother's Corn Pudding
Puddings date back to the 1300's, though back then they were more often savory, even including meats. This tasty pudding is a traditional American dessert perfect for late summer.
Old-Fashioned Rice Pudding
Soft, creamy, and mildly flavored, rice pudding is a delicious vehicle for most fruits, jams and sauces. It's also incredibly cozy and warming in winter months. We won't tell anyone if you reheat leftovers and eat them for breakfast.
Crunchy Candy Clusters
Homemade candies and confections are often considered too fussy for modern cooks. This recipe for crunchy clusters is simple and fantastic for giving as gifts around holidays.
Lebkuchen
A traditional German Christmas cookie, lebkuchen means "life bread," presumably because they keep so long, and even improve with age. Originally baked in monasteries, the cakes appear all over Germany around the holidays. The dough is heavily spiced with molasses, ginger, anise, allspice, cardamom, cloves, and brightened with citrus peels and dried fruits. Think of it as gingerbread's sassy grandmother.
Lemon Chiffon Cake
"Chiffon" conjures an antique southern afternoon. This high, airy cake is as elegant as a lady's hat, but far more delicious.
Peach Bavarian
Another molded gelatin dessert! Bavarians emphasize creaminess and smoothness. Gelatin lightly sets the custard, so it's moldable. Whipped cream is folded into the custard, creating a light and airy texture. Piled with fruit, the dessert makes a stunning centerpiece.
Scottish Shortbread Cookies
A staple in Great Britain, shortbread is largely out-muscled in the US by sugar cookies. Big mistake. Shortbread is the ultimate fan letter to butter. Butter, flour, and a bit of sugar combine to form tender, melt-in-the-mouth cookies.
Sticky Bread Pudding Cups
Bread pudding used to be a household staple, serving the practical purpose of using up stale bread. The dry husks of bread transform into a rich, rib-sticking pudding flavored with warming spices. You might want to let some bread go stale for this.
Italian Holiday Cookies
This tower of fried dough makes a surprisingly lovely centerpiece for a holiday table. Frying up a simple batter used to be a go-to way to make dessert from minimal ingredients. Many cultures have recipes for fried dough confections, from Native American fry bread to bunuelos, elephant ears to beignets.
Aunt Ione's Icebox Cookies
Can't have icebox cookies without an icebox. These cookies were invented around the time fridges went mainstream in the 1920's and 30's. Chilling dough allows the flour and ingredients to become fully hydrated before baking, yielding extra flavor and richness.
Traditional Hot Cross Buns
On Good Friday, people around the world eat hot cross buns: sweet yeasted rolls flavored with spices and fruits. Baking lore says that a monk introduced the icing cross on the top in the 12th century. Baking the buns at home lets you enjoy them fresh from the oven, a real Easter treat.
Mincemeat Trifle
Mincemeat's lack of popularity is no surprise. Its name evokes chopped raw meat...not exactly tempting. (In mediaeval times, mincemeat did indeed contain meat and fruit.) Today's mincemeat is chopped up dried raisins, dates and other fruits, laced with a heady pour of booze. Ready to start baking now?
Apple Dumplings with Sauce
Like fried dough, dumplings are an old, old food with cultural variations found around the world. They're quite versatile little lumps of dough. They can be steamed, baked or boiled; stuffed with filling or not; sweet or savory; served alone, in a soup, or with a sauce. Our modern recipe makes large dumplings stuffed with apples and butter and topped with caramel sauce.
Easter Pie
A classic Italian recipe, Easter pie is made with ricotta cheese, citrus peels, and pastry crust. Many traditional versions also call for wheat berries, since wheat is a symbol for spring's rebirth.
Grandma's Polish Cookies
Khruchiki is a classic Polish cookie shaped into a bow tie and deep-fried. This rich, crunchy cookie lets the simple flavor of an eggy dough shine.
Peach Blackberry Pavlovas
Named for the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, this dessert is an airy meringue topped with fruits. Its simple elegance showcases the best summer fruits.
Banana Pudding
Channel a southern grandmother with this banana pudding recipe. It's homey comfort food at its finest.
Apple Bavarian Torte
Classic European desserts, tortes are similar to cakes but made with much less flour. They usually boast a showy finish, as in this apple recipe, in which a golden brown pastry bowl surrounds a filling of apples and sliced almonds. In the afternoon, enjoy a slice with coffee and feel very continental.
Mulled Wine Jelly Candies
This dessert combines two vintage classics. Mulled wine is an old European beverage of wine steeped in spices and served warm, often around holidays. Jelly candies are usually bought for children at candy shops, but give them a try at home. This recipe simply boils ingredients together and lets them set overnight.
Maple Sugar Pumpkin Pie
A delicious east coast treat, maple sugar is a granular sugar made from (and tasting of) maple syrup. Its history is a political one: in the 18th century, it was marketed to northerners as an ethical alternative to cane sugar, which was harvested by slaves.
Cranberry Ambrosia Salad
Ambrosia was once the food of Greek gods. Today, it's a kitschy dessert made from fruit and whipped cream. Oranges and coconut are the classic pairing, but mix-ins like marshmallows, maraschino cherries, pineapple, and nuts work well, too.
Easter Bread with Orange Butter
Classic Easter breads were sweet doughs shaped into elaborate coils or braids. This simplified recipe makes a delicious, soft loaf, studded with fruit.
Rhubarb Fool with Strawberries
Fool recipes date back to the 1600's, though the origins of the name are still mysterious. One bite of this creamy dessert, and you won't care what it's called. Tender stewed fruit (you can use whatever's in season) mixed with whipped cream? Absolutely scrummy picnic fare that's pretty enough to serve to guests.
Honey and Spice Snack Cake
Though today we mainly eat gingerbread, spice cakes of all sorts were once commonplace. The dense doughs were often made with honey or other non-sugar sweeteners, because white sugar was a very expensive commodity not used in everyday baking.
Banana Souffle
Souffles have a reputation for fussiness. Breathe too loudly, and they'll collapse! Really they're quite stable if you have a good recipe (like this one). Stick it in the oven after dinner; within a half hour you'll have a glorious domed dessert to carry proudly to the table.
Makeover Sweet Kugel
Kugel is a traditional Jewish dish that turns egg noodles into a cozy sweet dessert that you'll crave on cold nights. Our recipe adds a bit of cheese, sour cream, milk, and eggs, which form a custard around the noodles. Apples and spice add flavor. Perfect food for sharing, kugels are often baked in large trays and serve a crowd.
Strawberry Angel Trifle
Ah, trifle: as British as cold summers and Paddington Bear. Trifles layer sponge cakes, whipped cream, and fruit into a frothy, light, delicious dessert. Served in a clear dish, they're pretty enough to be the centerpiece of a party table.
Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
A relatively modern dessert, sticky toffee pudding was a popular British dessert in the 1970's. Our version bakes a full cake instead of individual "puddings," but preserves the best part: the heavy soak of butterscotch sauce.
Pretzel Gelatin Dessert
A layer of siren-red jelly floats atop a crunchy bed of pretzels in this retro dessert. Traditionally, it's called a "salad." We're not sure why, but it's a good excuse to eat an extra portion.
Down East Blueberry Buckle
Another fruity summer dessert, this one pairing a fluffy cake atop a puddle of blueberries.
The post What Is Mincemeat Pie and How to Make It appeared first on Taste of Home.
Lori Vanover