mince pies

Well, I don't unfortunately have the time nor the talent to be a domestic goddess, and cooking or baking isn't my strong point, but here's a link to someone who does a lot of cooking and baking and makes it all look very lovely and very easy.
It's Jaz on her Octoberfarm blog, and she has a new giveaway as well on this post:
http://octoberfarm.blogspot.com/2010/12/mincemeat-recipe-and-new-giveaway.html



Here's a bit of background to the origin of Mincemeat!

The origin of the word 'mincemeat' is often of interest, especially as it does not appear to contain any meat whatsoever. Up to Victorian times, the mince(meat) pie would have actually have been a spiced meat pie with some dried fruit. It has evolved to the point where the only meat in the pie is in the form of suet, an historical throwback.

The filling is nowadays made from fruit mincemeat (fruitmince to North Americans) containing dried fruit such as raisins, currants, cherries, apricot, candied peel; spices such as cinnamon or nutmeg; nuts such as walnuts or chopped almonds; suet; and some kind of alcohol, usually either brandy or rum. Although no longer a meat pie, the mince pie is suitable for vegetarians only if the suet is replaced by vegetable fat.

(Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mince_pie )