Stray Foodie Lockdown Recipes are written by Michelin-starred chef, Frances Atkins. In 1997, Frances opened the Yorke Arms near Pateley Bridge, where she was the owner for 20 years. During her ownership, she held her Michelin-star status for 16 of those years.

Throughout lockdown, I’ll be bringing you some of my favourite seasonal recipes each week. I’d love to see how you make the recipes your own – let me know by using #StrayFoodie or tagging @thestrayferret in your social media posts.

This week's recipe is for Christmas Mince Pies

This time of year many households are either purchasing or making their own Mince Pies with their own personal slant. Some people will put orange in their pastry, other people use flaky pastry rather than sweet pastry, and the creative making their own mince meat may leave out beef suet and replace with vegetable suet or even leave out altogether.

It is the suet that actually determines what this traditional dish was once meant to be. It was a small spiced meat pie with dried fruit with brandy added.  The brandy acted as a preservative. These were made slightly in advance for Christmas. As time has gone on there was a shortage of meat, so the suet replaced the meat. Now in these current times why do we need the suet? The fat from the suet will combine the juices, sugar and alcohol, but of course, there are other ways to do this. Why not experiment by using a little flavoured oil or coconut oil rather than suet.

Good cooking is all about creativity and organisation; it is not difficult but can be time consuming. Maybe that is why most people prefer to buy a jar of ready prepared mincemeat. I personally find it much more exciting to think about my own flavours to celebrate Christmas.

Here is a recipe that I hope you will enjoy! For a beautiful festive pairing, try with Bettys Christmas Coffee blend. 

For the mincemeat, you will need:

• 56g Flaked Almonds


• 225g Raisins


• 225g Currants


• 225g Yellow Sultanas


• Pinch of Salt


• ½ Teaspoon Mixed Spice


• Juice & Zest of 1 Lemon


• Juice & Zest of 1 Orange


• 75g Brandy


• 50g Rum


• 110g Candied Peel or Stoned, chopped Prunes.


• 56g Dried Apricots


• 160g Dark Sugar


• 56g Maraschino or Glace Cherries


• 1 x Grated Apple


• 225g Beef or Vegetarian Suet

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together! You could also add a touch of chilli, extra apple or grated ginger. Let this stand overnight.

For the pastry, you will need:

• 450g Plain flour


• 113g Butter


• 56g Lard


• 56g Icing Sugar


• 1 Whole Egg


• 1 Egg Yolk


• Splash of Water

Method:

Rub the fat into the flour and combine the egg and chill. Add splash of water if needed, but handle the pastry as little as possible. I like the lard as it adds a shortness to the pastry, but you could easily substitute that for butter if preferred.

Line your chosen tins with the pastry and add the filling. You can either cover the top for a closed pie or leave open and cover with glazed apple, cinnamon and sugar. For something a little different, you could roll out some marzipan and add some grated orange on top!

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Read More: 

• Stray Foodie: Almond cake recipe


• Stray Foodie: Festive chestnut and sticky ham

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