Mince is one of those desserts that's an acquired taste. Mince tarts were a holiday staple in my home growing up, but the first time I mentioned mince to Bill he grimaced. His only experience with mince was that brown goop that comes out of a jar. But, as you know, our fillings never come out of a jar.
Today we prepared the mince for tarts. Now, traditional mince has beef suet but since Bill and I are vegetarians we substitute the suet with butter. Our mince is a delicious fruit blend of apples, raisins, and currants. It also contains almond, cinnamon and cloves. (And no, that's not everything - seriously - have you met us?) Of course, our mince wouldn't be complete without a good whack of brandy - and then we put some in the mince! We'll let this aromatic blend soak until the fruit is good and drunk and then we'll get baked - I mean - we'll bake them.
(I knew we shouldn't have touched the booze until I finished posting this.)
Bill is now a mince convert and I have to confess, every year when we make these for the store, we hold two back because a warm mince tart with a scoop of french vanilla ice cream is our favorite Christmas dessert!
If you happen to be in or near the Haliburton Highlands we hope you'll pay us a visit!
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