Crave: Make your own mincemeat for old-fashioned cookies

photo by: Lori Dunn/Mother Earth News

In my childhood, mincemeat cookies were favorites in our household, although the appeal for me was probably more the pie crust dough than the mincemeat inside.

Mom used jarred mincemeat from the grocery store, and I don’t think I realized “real” mincemeat actually contained meat until I was grown and away from home.

Mincemeat originated as a way to preserve meat using sugar. In medieval England, the minced and preserved meat was loaded up with dried fruits and spices and was served in a pie as a main dish.

Nowadays, the mixture is more fruit than meat, since dried fruit, spices and sugar have become more readily available.


Homemade Mincemeat

Yields 9 to 10 quarts.

Ingredients:

5 cups cooked hamburger or other ground meat

4 pounds raisins

2 cups water

3 tablespoons cinnamon

1 1/2 tablespoons cloves

1 orange, ground

1 cup vinegar

5 pounds ground apples

2 pounds brown sugar

2 1/2 cups meat stock

1 tablespoon salt

3 tablespoons nutmeg

1 lemon, ground

6 cups grape or orange juice

Directions:

In large kettle or stockpot, combine all ingredients. Simmer until apples are cooked.

Sterilize quart jars; place lids and rings in boiling water and simmer until ready to use.

Fill hot jars with hot mixture, leaving 1-inch headspace. Adjust lids.

Process for 90 minutes at 11 pounds of pressure in dial-gauge pressure canner.


Mincemeat Cookies

Yields about 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups salted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons grated orange peel or zest

4 cups all-purpose flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

2 to 3 tablespoons milk

Filling:

1 package (9 ounces) mincemeat

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons grated orange peel or zest

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel or zest

1/2 cup orange juice

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup chopped walnuts or other nuts, optional

Directions:

In large bowl, cream together butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir in grated orange peel.

In another bowl, mix together flour and baking powder; stir into creamed mixture alternately with milk.

Divide dough in half and chill.

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 2 3/4-inch round cookie cutter. With butter knife, cut an X in the center of half of the rounds (this will form the top part of the cookie).

In small saucepan, break mincemeat into pieces. Add sugar, orange peel, lemon peel, orange juice, and lemon juice. Heat. Stir until all lumps are broken; simmer for 1 minute; cool. Stir in nuts.

To assemble, place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling on each plain round of dough; top with the cut rounds. Press edges together with fork to seal.

Bake at 375 F for 12 minutes.

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