Christmas Recipes - Grandma's Fruit Mince Pies!

As a time-honoured tradition, our family have always prepared, created, and consumed more than a hundred mince pies at Christmas time. Sometimes, our grown-up children are more excited about the pies than the presents!

Everyone loves my mother's recipe. The pastry is divine, the fruit mince not too sweet but sweet enough, and the whole pie the perfect size. Because Christmas is all about sharing joy, we thought that we'd share the joy of my mother's famous mince pie recipe! And the best part - all the key ingredients can be bought off the Happy & Healthy website.

Change your Christmas cooking one step at a time with this delightful recipe... and no, it's not a raw mince pie recipe, nor is the sugar replaced by stevia, but remember "wise, not fanatical". Let's call this our cheat day... umm, month.

Remember: Make this fruit mince at least 1 day before you want to bake your Christmas Mince Pies. Any pastry recipe will do - we recommend something that isn't too sweet (you can add a dusting of icing sugar at the end). I'm getting hungry just typing out this recipe...

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* Christmas Fruit Mince *

...for Grandma's Christmas Mince Pies

Makes three large jars and will keep in the fridge for weeks; months if it has brandy in it. Make this (at least) the day before you want to bake so it has had time to 'set' in the fridge.

1 kg fruit - make up a mix of raisins, sultanas currants, dates (can be bought here)

2 cups water

250 g butter

1 tsp cinnamon (can be bought here)

1 tsp mixed spice (can be bought here)

1 Tbs marmalade

2 Tbs golden syrup or maple syrup (can be bought here)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 Tbs brandy (optional - added after cooking)

Place all together in a saucepan and bring to the boil while stirring. Simmer for 10 minutes. It will thicken. Stir.

Allow to cool. Add 1 tablespoon brandy if you like and store in glass jars in the fridge. Cool overnight before using.

Enjoy!