Blue-Ribbon Mincemeat Pie Filling
Submitted by robsco
Old-fashioned mincemeat pie filling made with real ground beef, apples, raisins, cider, and warm baking spices. A blue-ribbon recipe that freezes in batches so you’re always ready for pie season.
YIELD
8 servingsPREP
10 minCOOK
20 minREADY
30 minReal mincemeat, the kind your great-grandmother would recognize, with actual meat in the mix.
Ground beef and chopped apples get pulsed in the food processor, then simmered with raisins, apple cider (or brandy, if you’re feeling festive), cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg until the kitchen smells like autumn itself. The filling freezes beautifully in 2-cup bags, each one ready to fill an 8-inch double-crust pie.
Make a big batch now and you’ll be the hero of every holiday gathering for the rest of the year.
Pro Tips
- Pulse the beef and apples to pea-sized pieces, not a paste; you want texture in the finished pie
- Don’t overbrown the beef, or it will turn dry and grainy in the filling
- Brandy gives a richer, more complex flavor than cider, but both work well
- Thaw the filling completely before using, and drain any excess liquid so your pie crust stays crisp
Ingredients
Directions
Directions: 1 In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the ground beef thoroughly.
Being sure not to overbrown it. 2 Place chopped apples and the cooked ground beef in a food processor and pulse until the mixture is made up of pea sized chunks. 3 In a non-reactive skillet combine the apple and ground beef mixture with the raisins, apple cider or brandy, ground cinnamon, ground allspice, ground nutmeg and the white sugar. Simmer for 30 minutes. 4 Cool filling to lukewarm and pour into freezer bags (2 cups per bag). Freeze filling until needed. One baggie will fill one 8 inch double crust pie. Thaw filling before using.
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