Alcohol, Suet and wheat- free mincemeat for mince pies

Christmas is a great time of year for food- there are so many yummy things to eat. I'm rather fond of mince pies, so I came up with this recipe full of all sorts of fruit, with no alcohol, suet or wheat, so that you can eat pies and benefit from your 5 a day, well a little bit of your 5 a day... it is Christmas after all!

This mincemeat will keep for a few days, but it's best made the day before you need it and kept in the fridge. This recipe is based on one by Delia Smith, only made a lot quicker,  simpler and budget friendly.


Prep time 15 min and over night stand
Cooking time: 2-3 min (in the microwave)

2 small oranges
100g saltanas
30g cranberries*
30g stem ginger*
35g mixed fruit*
35g raisins*
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon mixed spice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
2-3 desert spoons of caster sugar
a small drop of vanilla essence


* I used Whitworths small snack packs of dried fruit, there is a large range to choose from, so you could use your favourite, and if you don't need dry fruit for anything else there is no wastage.


1. Chop up the stem ginger into little bits, because no-one likes a mouthful of hot spice when they least expect it.
2. If you'd like a fine texture for small pies, also chop the other dried fruit.
3. Wash the oranges.
3a. Zest and juice the 2 oranges into a glass mixing bowl or jug. Don't worry of you don't have a zester, a cheese grater works well, just be careful to only get the bright orange skin, or it will taste bitter. Also remove any pips form the juice.
4. Add the dry fruit to the juice and stir.
5. Add the  spices and sugar and stir again really well.
6. Cover the bowl or jug with clim-film and pop in the microwave for 1-2 min on high. The fruit should be swollen and steamy.
7. Stir again and repeat if the fruit isn't piping hot.
8. Leave the cling film over the  top of the bowl or jug and let the hot fruit stand to cool over night.
9. ( the following day) Place the cold fruit in the fridge until you need it, or use straight away. I did try the mince meat every 30 min for the first few hours hours ( in the name of science of course!), and while it's good, it's just better the next day. However, that being said if you're short of time and need some emergency mince pies you could use the mixture in after letting it stand for as little and 30 min or so.

I use shop-brought puff pastry, cut into rounds, spooning the mincemeat into the centre on a flat tray and let the edges of the pastry rise to form the walls of the mince pie, mostly because I couldn't the pie tin LOL. They take 10-15 minutes to cook in a hot oven.