tropit

Every year I try to suggest a mincemeat pie in for the Christmas dessert, but I'm always overruled. I guess that no one seems to like it. (Frankly, I don't think that anyone in my family has ever even had a mincemeat pie. They think that it's made out of meat.) But for me, mincemeat pie was a tradition growing up and I've missed it terribly. This year, I just ignored everyone else and started making a mincemeat filling for a pie. I have a small, old, pie pan that will hold a half-size pie. If no one likes it, that's ok, I can just eat the whole thing myself.

I did make some concessions on the flavors though. There's no brandy in this pie recipe. I used orange liqueur instead, so it's not so heady. I don't have the recipe handy, but basically, it's just your choice of dried fruit s/a raisins, chopped apricots, chopped, dried mangos and some fresh, chopped apples all mixed with some sugar, orange liqueur and Christmasy spices. I covered it tightly and put it in the fridge and I've been stirring it every day. It's smelling pretty good! I'm planning to add some chopped nuts when it goes into the pie and just a little bit of thickener s/a arrowroot, or tapioca.

I think that they did add meat a couple of hundred years ago, but that has long been eliminated in today's recipes. Some people will still add suet, but I don't see a need for that.

~C