I stumbled on a great article/recipes from with Felicity Cloake's mincemeat recipe and it really kicked me into gear to try to get more organised for Christmas this year. Which in baking terms means starting now - such a scary prospect but I really loved Felicity's recipe with our new Spectacular Diced Fruit Mix so here is my version. Felicity does suggest making the mincemeat as Christmas gifts but to be completely honest I think I'm much more likely to bake mince pies in the lead up to Christmas and take to family and friends. I'm pretty excited about making this happens this year, our range of mince pies locally aren't always great.

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do.

Fig and orange mincemeat

650g Spectacular Diced Fruit Mix
1 apple grated
100g currants
75g almonds, roughly chopped
150g suet (I used chopped suet from my friends at Border Park Organics)
250g Sticky Quince Syrup
1 tsp Christmas spice (I used Gewurzhaus Christmas Cake and Pudding Spice)
100ml orange muscat or liqueur (I used Brown Brothers)

Method

Mix together the dried fruit mix, apple, currants, almonds in a large bowl. Stir in the chopped suet and then fold through sticky quince syrup and lastly the muscat. Stir well. If your mix looks a bit dry you can add the juice of an orange.

Spoon into sterilised jars, seal and leave for at least two weeks. I'm planning to keep mine for about two and half months then start baking pies with it. A note it will start to get hot here in the Riverland so I will put my jars in the fridge to prevent any chance of mould. 

Makes 3 x 500ml jars (or Fowler's no 20 jars).

if you put your camera on your phone to the QR code below it will take you to a reel I have done showing the steps I used to made my batch of fig and orange mincemeat.

This recipe will knock you socks offer. A total delight from a Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh recipe with my little twists added to include our diced dried fruit and sticky quince syrup (because they are a flavour match made in heaven).

Ingredients
400g Singing Magpie diced dried fruit
1 tspn bicarbonate of soda
250 mls water
2 tlbspns Sticky Quince Syrup
200g plain flour
2 tspn baking powder
1/4 tspn salt
125g unsalted butter at room temp
200g caster sugar
1 large egg (again I try to have this a room temp)
1 tspn vanilla extract

Salted caramel coconut topping
75 g unsalted butter
1 tlbspn Sticky Quince Syrup
95g soft brown sugar
60 ml thickened cream
95g shredded coconut
1/4 tspn salt

Method
Place the diced dried fruit, sticky quince syrup, bicarb soda and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, stirring from time to time. Remove from the heat and set aside until cool.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan. I used a muffin tray and muffin liners. You can also use lined bottomless cake rings on a baking tray. 

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together into a bowl and set aside. Place the butter and sugar in an electric mixer and beat on a medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and, in alternate batches, fold in the dried fruit mix and the sifted dry ingredients.

Divide the mix between the muffin liners and bake for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

Ideally make the topping while the cake is baking but I did forget, lucky this topping comes together very quickly. Place all the ingredients for the topping in a saucepan and stir over a low heat until the butter is melted and the ingredients are combined.

Once the cakes are cooked, remove from the oven (keep the oven on) and spoon about 1½ tablespoons of the topping mixture over the surface of each pudding. Return to the oven for another 12 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes, or until they come to room temperature, before transferring to a wire rack to cool before serving.

These will keep for up to 2 days at room temperature (or in the fridge, if it’s particularly warm) in an airtight container. Serve them as they are, or better still warm them through for 5 minutes in an oven or the microwave and serve with some cream or ice-cream.

Utterly delicious. A total crowd pleaser. Makes 12

UPDATED: If you are looking for more recipes to use our Spectacular diced dried fruit mix here is my list so far:

• Our Fig and Orange mincemeat  which might be a Christmas favourite but try folding the fruit mince through vanilla ice-cream, it's a winner all year round.
• The popular Mrs T's very lovely boiled fruitcake recipe.
• My take on Emiko Davies Italian bread pudding (pinza di pane) and also her sensational Pan Del Doge Di Zaira (Zaira's Fruit Cake). In both recipes I replaced the fruit listed with the equivalent weight of our diced fruit mix. Stunning.
• Dried fruit and orange scrolls
• A crowd favourite Chocolate Fruit and Almond Protein balls

This recipe came straight from fig bars I saw on Instagram by Sophie Ella. I have changed up the ingredients and the balance of sweet & salty.

My goodness they are good (and super quick to make) and a fantastic protein snack to get you through the day.

PS this makes a serious amount of balls approx 60 so by all means half the recipe, use them to make up Christmas presents (or do as I did freeze them in an air tight container so you always have a protein snack on hand).

Fruit and Almond Protein Balls

Ingredients

600g Almond butter (I used my local The Almond Farmer)

9 tbspn Sticky Quince Syrup

Approx 200g of mixed dried fruit (I used 17 figs, 2 pears, 4 peaches, 5 apricots) that is roughly chopped or put through your blender. I did make my fruit quite minced, you can choose to make it chunky or minced.

3 pinches of salt

2 tbspn of monkfruit sweetener, salted caramel flavour (this is completely optional I just had a craving at the time)

8 tbspn almond meal

Approx 400g Melted dark chocolate to dip your balls into

Toppings - shredded coconut, salt flakes (optional)

Method 

In a saucepan, over low heat, mix together the almond butter, sticky quince syrup and salt until smooth.

Once mixed through turn the heat off and add your chopped/minced fruit, almond meal and monkfruit sweetener (if using). Mix thoroughly

Roll the mixture into bite size balls and put in the fridge while you melt your chocolate. 

Your chocolate can be melted in a small saucepan over a saucepan of boiling water or in the microwave on very low heat (and stirring every 30 secs) you don't want the chocolate to get too hot and burn before it actually gets to melt.

Use a fork to then dip each ball into your melted chocolate. Top with coconut or salt flakes before the chocolate completely sets (optional).

Keep stored in an air tight container (and in the fridge if the temp is getting hot or humid). This makes a very big batch which I portioned out and froze some so there was always some protein snacks on hand when we need them. Or you could package them up for Christmas presents.

You can make a nut free version of these simply by upping the amount of mixed dried fruit to approx 800g in total and not using any almond butter or meal.