Holiday Dessert Roundup: Mincemeat Pie

Mince pie cut in half with background blur.
Photo Credit: By Jonathan Farber on Unsplash

From my last few posts, it’s clear that I love holiday sweets. Gingerbread is a holiday staple and eggnog might be my favorite holiday treat. But there’s another one that I haven’t written about — mincemeat pie.

First, let me clarify. Most mincemeat pies do NOT have meat in them. They are made with dried fruits and spices. While we call them mincemeat in New England, apparently in most other places, they’re called mince.

Personally, I’ve never made a mincemeat pie. One of my mom’s sisters, is the pie maker for our holiday meals and we are often blessed with one of her mincemeat pies. After a brief Twitter exchange with someone, I realized that not all families are so blessed! We had one for Thanksgiving and I’m hopeful for Christmas too! Served warm with vanilla ice cream, it’s a carousel of delicious flavors and textures.

I started wondering if enjoying mincemeat pies is more of a regional thing. The pie does have its roots in England. Growing up in New England may have skewed my views. Although for a period of time, Connecticut banned mincemeat pies. Those Puritans were no joke.

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Mincemeat pie is a holiday treat that has been enjoyed by many for a very long time, according to a recent article on Haiwatha World.

Mincemeat pie finds its roots in the 11th century — the Crusades, to be more precise. Returning crusaders brought back valuable spices — cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg — from the Holy Land, and these three spices were used to season a special “Christmas pie,” to represent the three gifts of the Magi to the infant Jesus Christ. Christmas pies were small, and could be eaten in a few bites. These pies were made in an oblong shape to resemble a cradle, and space was left for a Christ child figure to be placed on top. (The figure was removed before eating.) It was considered to be lucky to eat one Christmas pie for each of the twelve days of Christmas, between December 25 and Epiphany, January 6. The mincemeat filling of these pies was indeed almost entirely meat, but cooked with rum and spices, which acted as a preservative, as well as giving it its distinctive flavor.

With my increasing interest in all things mincemeat pie, I decided to do some additional research on the latest news and have assembled a roundup for your (and my) holiday reading pleasure. Enjoy!

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– Here’s a recipe for a boozy Baileys mince pie.

– Selfridges was selling a mini mince pie advent calendar.

Mince pie filled cookies are a thing!

– A mince pie sandwich is also a thing.

– Is mince pie flavored popcorn going too far?!

– Caffè Nero is offering mince pies in the UK for the Christmas season, but not in the US.  Not even in New England.

– Here’s a recipe for mincemeat crumble cake.

– The Helen M. Kelly Memorial Mince Pie has been in this family’s fridge since 1988.

Mince pie bao buns are for sale on Amazon Fresh UK.

– Parenthood won the best Thanksgiving TV dinner and the mincemeat pie had a lot to do with it.

– Grocery story Lidl has mince pie ice cream!

– A Dublin restaurant took the meat part of mincemeat too literally for Professor Darryl Jones.

– An American website had a similar meat problem with its mincemeat pie recipe.

– Try Queen Elizabeth’s royal recipe for mince pie. No meat included!

– If you’re ready to go absolutely medieval, try this mincemeat pie recipe that includes pork shoulder roast and bacon.

– And guess who has never tried mincemeat pie? I apologize in advance.

Holiday Recipe: Eggnog Ice Cream

Is there one thing that is the epitome of the holidays for you? When I was a kid, that first eggnog of the season, right before Thanksgiving was it. The holiday season was here for real!

Now eggnog is here much sooner, but for me, it’s still a clear signal that the holidays are upon us. As much as I love eggnog, I never made it from scratch until yesterday, when I made this eggnog ice cream for the first time.

While I do enjoy eating raw cookie dough as I bake, I must admit that the multiple raw egg yolks freaked me out a bit. But I got over it. Especially since I added alcohol, which feels like it cleans it up a bit. Maybe?!?

Anyway, as long as you have an ice cream maker, this recipe is pretty simple. The recipe is adapted from an Alton Brown one that I found on NPR back in December 2006. Way back at the beginning of the century! And now, we’re zooming into 2020 in a mere two weeks! But eggnog is timeless.

This recipe was adapted based on what I have at home and my personal taste. I had some half and half that I needed to use up and I happen to have vanilla oat milk. I don’t have bourbon, but I do have vanilla flavored vodka, so that’s what I used. I also added some additional flavor extracts and a bit of salt, because the mixture tasted somewhat bland. The final result is delicious!

I hope you try this recipe and adapt based on what you have at home as well. Happy Holidays!

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Eggnog Ice Cream  (makes 1 quart)

INGREDIENTS:
4 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
2  1/2 cups half and half
1/2 cup vanilla oat milk
1 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup Pinnacle®️ Whipped®️ Vodka

INSTRUCTIONS:
You can use the directions in the original recipe or the way I have done below.

Beat the egg yolks well in a large bowl. Use what you have — a stand mixer, an electric hand mixer (what I used) or a manual hand mixer. Add in the sugar and beat well. Add the remaining ingredients and use a whisk to combine. Chill mixture in the freezer for about 40 minutes. Transfer mixture to your ice cream maker and use as directed. Place ice cream in an airtight container and put in freezer for several hours.

Holiday Baking Recipe: Swedish Spritz Cookies


It’s December, so holiday baking season is in full swing! This was the first Thanksgiving in decades that I didn’t cook or bake anything. And I was perfectly fine with it. But I had a few good reasons to bake these Swedish Spritz cookies today.

One of my brother’s housemates lost his mom a few years ago and she left him her cookbook. Out of the blue one day, he shared one of her recipes with me. I was so touched. A family recipe is a treasure.

He gave me the recipe this past summer, but I hadn’t had a chance to bake them.  Well, time just kept passing, as it’s known to do. He asked me a few times if I had tried them yet and I promised myself that I would make them soon. My family has Sunday dinners each week and I thought these would make a festive dessert. Plus, I was in a baking mood today!

As I was looking at the recipe and comparing it to other similar recipes, I realized that I didn’t have a cookie press. His family is Swedish, so his mom’s recipe didn’t have the part about needing the cookie press, because it was probably pretty obvious to her.

Luckily I have no problem improvising when I bake, so I used a cookie stamp to get a similar effect.

There were some cookies leftover from our family dinner, so I gave them to my brother’s house for everyone to share. His housemate had such a smile when I told him that I finally made the cookies and he gave me the biggest hug. Which he has never done before. Ever.

My mom said that baking these cookies was a way to keep memories of his mother alive. I have to agree. So much about food, especially around the holidays, is about family, memories and love.

These cookies are very good and I will definitely bake them again. Simple, tasty and not too sweet. They are practically as quick as using ready made cookie dough. Perfect for this time of year.

Here’s the adapted recipe below if you’d like to try it. I received permission to blog it.

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Swedish Spritz Cookies (makes a dozen and a half cookies)

INGREDIENTS:

1 stick butter (softened)
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp. almond extract
1 cup plus 2T flour
pinch of salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

Set aside an ungreased cookie sheet or place parchment paper on sheet. Set oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, stir together butter, sugar and egg yolk. Add extract, salt and flour. Stir until combined. Batter comes together nicely and will be a dough that is easy to handle. If you have a cookie press, use as instructed.

I rolled the dough into small balls, then baked for 10 minutes. Remove sheet from the oven and use cookie stamp to press design onto the top of each ball. Bake for another 5 minutes for total baking time of 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cook, then serve or store in a container. Enjoy!

Free Donuts + Sunday Shopping at Shake The Tree in the North End!

A picture of a dozen different flavored Union Square Donuts in a box.

Since discovering Shake The Tree while strolling around the North End several years ago, I’ve been a fan.

Shake The Tree is the perfect little shop to find clothes, jewelry and other quality items that are unique and fun. Both for yourself and others.

While speaking with owner Marian Klausner, I learned that she used to be an attorney. On my old blog she was one of the first people to participate in my interview series called Back To Law School.

For that interview, Klausner told me that surviving law school gave her “a tremendous sense of self-confidence.”  She practiced for eight years before opening her shop.

Law school and the experience of day-to-day practice gave me the sense that I could achieve any dream I had, if I really worked for it. I never thought of myself as exceptionally brilliant before law school but I did well academically and that made me realize that if I focused on something I wanted to create, I could really do it!

Her story is inspiring and I love how she often collaborates with local shops that sell the best sweets.

So, if you’re looking to shop small and local over the next two Sundays (12/11 and 12/18, 10am – 12pm), I definitely recommend going to the North End and stopping by Shake The Tree.

You can get some free Union Square Donuts and enjoy discounted parking while you’re there. Parking validation is $3 for 3 hours at the Parcel 7 Garage, next to the Haymarket T on Sudbury Street.

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Image: Shake The Tree Newsletter

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