Pie
Mincemeat Pies: The Stars of My Holiday Dessert Table
Learn how to make classic British mincemeat pies.
Photo by Ty Mecham
Food52's Automagic Holiday Menu Maker

Food52's Automagic Holiday Menu Maker
Choose your holiday adventure! Our Automagic Menu Maker is here to help.
View MakerPopular on Food52
Continue After Advertisement
14 Comments
marymc
December 17, 2018
Forty years ago, I did my junior year of college in England. I spent my first few months there in London, so I was eager to get out and see more of the countryside. That's how I came to be tramping around a tiny Welsh village, dressed quite unsuitably for the foot of snow on the ground, searching for a bed and breakfast that wasn't closed for the season, a week before Christmas. I finally found a b&b where the elderly proprietor first told me she was closed, then invited me to come on in. She warned me that she couldn't offer me meals with the room, and then every evening I was there she would call me down and say she'd made too much food for her family, and hand me a heaping plate. One afternoon I came in from exploring and she called me into her kitchen, all toasty-warm and filled with a delicious smell. On the table were rows and rows of little mince tarts. I'd never had these before. She told me to help myself, and as I scarfed them down, she told me that every mince tart you eat at Christmas means a month without tears in the new year.
Her tarts were exquisite, and I think I ate enough that afternoon to guarantee me a whole tear-free year. I've had some pretty good mince tarts since then--even made some of them--but none like the ones I had in that warm kitchen somewhere in the middle of snow-covered Wales--and I've never eaten them without thinking of that sweet lady who made them.
Her tarts were exquisite, and I think I ate enough that afternoon to guarantee me a whole tear-free year. I've had some pretty good mince tarts since then--even made some of them--but none like the ones I had in that warm kitchen somewhere in the middle of snow-covered Wales--and I've never eaten them without thinking of that sweet lady who made them.
Michele
December 16, 2018
Love this! In the middle of making my candied oranges for my mincemeat. Traditionalist here, but thank you so much for a newer, and quicker recipe to try!
HalfPint
December 14, 2018
The Great British Bake Off holiday episode has recently been added to Netflix (there's only 2, so far but very enjoyable). Mince pies was a technical challenge. After witnessing the fiddley-ness of making them, I would have passed on making mince pies but you might have changed my mind ;)
Katherine K.
December 20, 2018
Delia forever! (https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/books/delias-happy-christmas/traditional-mince-pies)
Michele
December 24, 2018
Completely agree!! Those and her Christmas cake recipes have been my staple for years!
Michele
December 24, 2018
Admittedly assembling the fruit ingredients is a bit time consuming but once you have the mincemeat they really are not difficult at all, and are so worth the effort.
Deedledum
December 13, 2018
I love these (and Eccles cakes too). You've talked me into doing some this year.
See what other Food52 readers are saying.