Mincemeat Pie Recipe

A British pastry - the mincemeat pie, can be cooked in a variety of ways. This is traditionally eaten during Christmas and New Year. These are generally prepared with a pastry top. Today, one can even find vegetarian versions of the mincemeat pie where meat is replaced by vegetable fat. Here, we shall take a look at some delicious mincemeat pie recipes.

Mincemeat Pie Recipe #1:
Ingredients
Salt (1 teaspoon)
Ice cold water (1/3 cup)
Mincemeat (1 jar - 32 ounces)
Medium lemon zest (1)
Egg yolk (1)
Milk (2 teaspoons)
Cold shortening (1/3 cup)
Cold margarine (1/3 cup)
All-purpose flour (1 3/4 cups)
Light rum – optional (2 tablespoons)
Chopped pecans or walnuts - optional

Preparation
In a medium sized bowl, combing the flour with salt. Cut in the cold shortening and add the margarine. When the mixture bears a close resemblance to small peas, sprinkle around 1/3 cup of ice-cold water. Now, quickly turn it into a ball. Wrap this dough in waxed paper and chill it in a refrigerator for an hour. Meanwhile, combine mincemeat with some lemon zest and place it aside.

Prepare a floured surface and roll out 2/3 of the chilled pastry. Take a nine-inch plate and line it with the pastry and trim the edges. Pour in the mincemeat mixture. Meanwhile, roll out the remaining pastry and cut 10 strips having a width of around ¾ inch. Now, arrange 6 strips in a crosswise fashion on the pie. Place four strips lengthwise. Once done, press gently into the sides of the pie shell. Meanwhile, beat the egg yolk with milk. Use this preparation to brush over the pastry. Bake this in a preheated oven for 10 minutes at 425 degrees F. After a duration of 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 degrees. Now, you can use rum to sprinkle on the top and even use some walnuts as well.

Mincemeat Pie Recipe #2:
Ingredients
For the Mincemeat Filling
Beef suet - chopped fine (1/2 lb)
Seedless raisins (4 cups)
Dried currants (2 cups)
Cinnamon (1 tsp)
Cloves (1/2 tsp)
Brandy (2 & 1/2 cups)
Dry sherry (1 cup)
Coarsely chopped almonds (1 cup)
Chopped candied citron (1/2 cup)
Sugar (1 & 1/4 cups)
Nutmeg (1 tsp)
Allspice (1 tsp)
Chopped dried figs (1/2 cup)
Chopped candied orange peel (1/2 cup)
Candied lemon peel (1/4 cup)
Coarsely chopped - peeled and cored apples (4 cups)

You will also need
Pie shells (8 - 2 1/2 inch)
Mincemeat (1-1/2 cups)

Preparation
First, you need to combine the following ingredients in a large bowl - currants, almonds, citron, figs, suet, raisins, apples, sugar, nutmeg, allspice, orange peel, lemon peel, cinnamon, and cloves. Stir these ingredients well. Now, pour in the brandy and the sherry and stir it till all the ingredients become moist. Then, cover the bowl and place it aside for around 3 weeks. Every week, you would need to check the preparation and keep adding ¼ of brandy and sherry as per the requirement. Now, you would need to preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Then, place about 3 tablespoons of mincemeat into each pastry shell. Cover this with a sheet of pastry and use a fork to crimp the edges. You now need to place all the stuffed pies onto a baking sheet and bake it for 10 minutes till the crust turns golden brown. Once done, let the pies cool down. Remove them from the tin and while serving, use whipped cream for added flavor.