22nd December 2020

Today I was recipe testing sweet Christmas mincemeat recipes - it is almost Christmas and I am yet to have a mince pie.  What is going on?!?!  Ordinarily I would have both made my own and nipped over to Fortnum and Masons long before now.

Not everybody here loves mince pies and so in a bid to change their minds I thought I would soften the fruit so they were plump and beautiful.  Sometimes mince pies can have a grittyness about them and to avoid that I find if you cook the fruit mix out you avoid this.  I also wanted them to be chocolatey and so made a very boozy chocolate mince mixture which tasted fabulous and the whole house smelt of Christmas spices.

Rhona also made a gorgeous fruit salad which was fresh and beautiful and we had it with whipped baileys cream which really went well with the fruit.  Well, it is Christmas.