Fruit mince recipe with no suet

a few years ago I made fruit mince without suet and it was lovely fruit mince. Only think I remember it had grated apple in it and I think it was cooked too.
only thing I cant find the recipe - grrr. Does anyone have one!

justgoogleandsawmany youmighttry that

Fruit mince is not exactly a recipe sort of thing. I whizz up whatever dried fruit I want to use (usually sultanas, raisins and currants with other fruits added in lesser quantities) in a processor to sort of chop it up a bit more then add whatever else I think will be nice in appropriate quantities: i.e. -grated raw apple, suet, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, slivered almonds, raw sugar - and drown it all in some sort of alcohol. I put the resulting mix into clean, sterile jars and leave the fruit to swell and absorb the alcohol, then I add some more. Some years I didn't have alcohol so I used fresh squeezed orange juice instead and last year I had bottles of apple cider left over so I used one of those as well.

Dried fruit usually has preservative in it and alcohol and sugar are preservatives as well so I have never had a problem with mould or rotting.

Some years I use a greater variety of spices - i.e. ground cumin and coriander plus mace and I've even used a pinch or two of aniseed. I think vanilla is a waste of time because it is swamped in the stronger flavours, but use it if you want.

All the ingredients are optional. Use whatever you want and that means you can leave out the suet. It seems not to make a noticeable difference in the taste or texture of the finished product if you are used to going without fat. I had a friend who only ever used currants, cinnamon, nutmeg, apples, alcohol and lots of sugar. It was passable I suppose and she liked it.

no kidding - but I thought someone here might have a tried and true recipe!

sorry

sorry my reaction was a bit harsh :S - just get fed up withpeople suggesting google thats all lol

In defence of people who suggest a search, when they say 'Google' many are referring to the Trade Me search at top left which, surprisingly, a lot of posters never discover until it's pointed out :)

thanks - i always forget about that search function - found a couple possibilities but has suet. Will look again tonight when i have more time.

Fruit filling, Tarts, squares.

2kg of mixed fruit
1 whole sponge cake 4 days old, crumbed
1 litre of stewed apples
1/2 tsp each
cinnamon, mixed spice, nutmeg.
1/2 tsp each
lemon, vanilla, almond, rum, essence.
1 cup of brown sugar
mix well and taste.
Add more spice if needed at this point.
Add 4 beaten eggs
This is not a mixture to keep, has no alcohol.

This mixture made 192 fruit tarts, plus 2 swiss roll tins of fruit square.
This was very well received last Christmas. Not by any means a "fruit mince" recipe. but a good mixture all the same.

Here is my one which I have adapted from Cookessentials recipe to suit me. Everyone that has it says it is very nice.

Christmas Mince Tarts

200g Sultanas
200g Raisins
125g Currants
125g cranberries
125g dried apricots
150g granny smith apple, skinned and grated
1 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp heaped mixed spice
1 tsp heaped cloves
1/8c plum jam (2 tbs)
100mls or so of brandy or whisky
Lemon and orange rind if desired

Mix all together. Cover and leave in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or you can freeze for later use. Stir every once in a while. Better made 1 month or so in advance and frozen.

Pastry (makes 2 ½ Doz)

2 cups plain flour
2 tbs ground almonds
180 gm butter
¼ cup icing sugar
1 egg yolk
3 tbs milk (approx.)

Sift flour into bowl, stir in almonds, rub in butter. Stir in yolk and enough milk to make dough cling together. Knead on floured surface until smooth. Refrigerate 30 minutes before using. This shortcake requires baking at around 200°C. Tarts will take about 20mins. This should be enough pastry for about 2c fruit mince.

Notes: if pastry falls apart too easily when rolling or trying to pick up, add bit more milk (tbs at a time) till soft and workable. Refrigerate again for a bit before rolling.

Found it easier rolling between 2 glad wraps.

Bake at fan forced 180c for 15 minutes.

Like I said before, making fruit mince is not rocket science. Any recipe will do, just leave out the suet. Suet is not vital. The history of xmas mince pies might assist you in understanding this fact.

Once upon a time the pies were literally made from minced meat. Then as time passed some dried fruit got added to the meat along with suet. More time passed and less and less meat was used till there was no meat at all. then fat was demonised so fruit mince was made with all of the fruits, spices, peel (which I forgot to list in my post), alcohol (usually brandy but rum, port or sherry as well), apple and sugar. This is what we have come to today. Has the evolution stopped! Hell no. People are now using fruits that they'd never heard of even 30 years ago such as dried mango, pineapple, cranberries, strawberries, etc. Your choice of fruits, spices, fats, (suet, butter, margarine, coconut oil, cacao butter, etc) nuts, candied peel, type of sugar, alcohol, fresh fruit, etc do not have to be set in stone. In the future people may start adding carrots, beetroot and who knows, any other vegetable, jams or nut butters that take their fancy and Xmas Mince Tarts will evolve even further.

Personally I think the modern mixes are pretty good and don't need improvement but that is only my opinion.

Just leave out the suet, I never add suet to my mincemeat. I don't use a recipebut tend to do the same as Buzzy these days.I use whatever mixture of fruit (usually currants, sultanas, cherries, glace ginger, figs, dates, prunes, apricots, mixed peel)that we like plus 1 grated apple, orange rind, 1/2 teasp. each cinnamon, mixed spice, ground nutmeg, ground cardamom, pinch of cumin and process, then I add slivered almonds & chopped walnuts and 1 cup of rum/brandy. Mix well and bottle, I store it in the fridge and it keeps well.I don't add sugar as the fruit mixture is sweet enough for us

no rules , if you have sugary fruit use that, I made a Christmas cake today , my fruit was sugary. Thought it was only one year old maybe it was two. I still have three kgs of that old fruit to use up. I usually make up to 12 dozen mince pies every year, our shout for the Christmas party. All I can do in advance is to make the pastry and fruit mixture and freeze them until near our break up day.