So, after our first Wreath Workshop at beautiful Bignor on Saturday everything it really is beginning to feel a lot like Christmas. Here is a really easy recipe for Mincemeat so you can whip up some mince pies an at the drop of a hat, a la domestic goddess. 

You will need:

1lb grated Bramley Apples

1 grated Carrot

Approx 8oz Suet (or one box)

12oz Raisons

8oz Sultanas

8oz Currants

12oz mixed dried fruit (you could put what you like in really, some candied peel, dried figs, cranberries, so long as its chopped up or about sultana size)

2oz nuts – chopped up – optional.

zest and juice of 2 oranges

zest and juice of 2 lemons

About 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

4 tsp All Spice

1/2 tsp Grated nutmeg

Brandy – about 6 tablespoons.

METHOD: This is really easy. You just put all ingredients, apart from the brandy, in a big ceramic or glass mixing bowl. Mix. Mix more. Get someone else to mix, mix it again. Leave covered with a tea towel over night / for 12 hours.

12 hours later… give it one final stir, put some tin foil over the top of the bowl and scrunch round the edges so it loosely fits. Put it in the oven on Gas Mark 1/2, or 225 F, or the bottom of the cooler oven in an AGA, for 3 hours. Allow the Christmasy smells to waft, smugly, around your house. When the time is up give the mix another stir and allow to cool. When the mixture has cooled stir in your brandy.

Pot in to sterilised jars. The longer you leave it the better it should get.