Last year, dear son Branduff made mincemeat pies during his food tech class right before Christmas. Mothers were encouraged to make the pastry and mincemeat filling from scratch and send the ingredients to the school for the students to assemble and bake. However, the FT teacher said store-bought versions would be accepted.
Having never made mincemeat filling, I decided to buy a bottle of Robertson's traditional mincemeat filling and send that to school with Branduff.
I did, however, make the pastry from scratch, since I usually prefer to avoid eating wheat and gluten. My pastry is made with a combination of non-gluten flours. Pastry made this way can be more crumbly, but the flavor is actually quite rich and yummy.
Branduff's mincemeat pies, often simply called mince pies, turned out really well. Unfortunately, Niall and Branduff wouldn't eat them! I realize that mincemeat can be an acquired taste, and when we first moved here in 2000, I would avoid them. HOWEVER, I have discovered that I do like Robertson's mixture, probably because it is sweeter and more homogenized than some highly seasoned more "adult" versions of this traditional fruit and spice mix. I would think that the Robertson's variety would be something that the whole family could enjoy, the kiddos, too!
So perhaps I'm a sissy, and I like tame mincemeat. In fact, I not only like the Robertson's mincemeat, I love it!
This year, Branduff doesn't have food tech, so the responsibility fell onto me to make the now-traditional pies. As a twist, I decided to make some of my mincemeat pies with a topping of pecans. A friend had mincemeat pies at a coffee morning the other day, and some of them had pecans and almond toppings, and this made the pies unique and yummy.
Gluten-free pastry can be a challenge, so the tops of the plain pies look sort of like the dog's dinner. Fortunately, I think the pecan-topped pies look especially festive. And both varities taste very delicious, or as they say here, 'scrummy'! And yes, I am still the only one in the family who is eating them. Oh well!
I will grab a cup of tea and a mince pie and sit at the kitchen table and watch the snow come down (predicted over the next few days). Sounds lovely to me!
Merry Christmas!
2 comments:
Thanks for visiting me at Delights of the Heart!
Isn't it funny that some people just don't know what they are missing with mincemeat pies. I love them. I make a sugar cookie with grated orange and lemon peel in the dough, then put mincemeat on top of the round, then another cookie on top with a star cutout and press the edges. It is sort of like a pie/cookie and very good, at least I think so. Merry Christmas!
Well done on making your mince pies. Hope your back is doing better. Take care
anesha
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