Overdue post alert!!!!!!!!!
Now that’s dealt with let’s move on.
This recipe is one that I have been DIEING to cook since
Christmas, but you know what? It turns out you CAN have too much of a good
thing, and despite everyone telling me how delicious my mincemeat was, they
didn’t want to eat mincemeat leftovers. No-sir-y-bob!
In their defence, I think we only got rid of the last of our
Christmas mince pies about a week ago. This is down to two main things. Firstly,
most of my family were trying to “be good” this Christmas – aka not stuff their
faces with all the delicious treats I had made them. And secondly, we tend to
make at least two batches on Christmas Eve. This results in many leftover mince
pies as people are far too full after Christmas Day/Boxing Day/all the parties
in between, to gorge themselves on these little morsels of joy.
Their loss, not mine.
But hey-ho, you live and learn! Note to self: make less
mince pies next year.
If you, like me, have found yourself still left with
Christmas leftovers in the form of jars and jars of mincemeat, have no fear,
because I have just the recipe for you.
I actually managed to serve this up in front of my parents
by NOT mentioning the C-word. No, not that C word, I mean CHRISTMAS! Whenever I
had mentioned making a Mincemeat Bread and Butter Pudding before, it had always
been as a Christmas dish. Something to replace the Christmas Pudding with, or
to serve with brandy butter in the main special dinners that make up the
Christmas period. Consequently, as we moved further and further into January my
parents didn’t want to hear the C word mentioned again, let alone eat anything
that tasted so...Christmassy!
So, I had to disguise it!
Fortunately for me, my mincemeat recipe is choc-full of
delicious fruits. I helped lift these flavours from the mincemeat by adding the
zest of lemons and oranges giving it a lighter, more vibrant flavour. The
light, gooey bread and butter texture was still present, but this complemented the
succulent mincemeat within, rather than being dominated by it.
They were half way through their bowls before anyone even
noticed what I had done! I had successfully served up Christmas in a bowl
exactly 4 weeks after the big event.
