Good morning readers. I just ate the most light and airy 210 calorie Brioche bun from a package from my Aldi grocery store. Heavenly! I have never made brioche. I do have a Fleischmann’s yeast recipe but why bake when one can buy the heavenly stuff? (Okay, there are plenty of reasons to do so if one is so inclined.) The Brioche bun goes very well with morning coffee.

Hubby wanted a mincemeat pie made with fruit and not meat. I’ve never had mincemeat made with meat. I’ve used jarred mincemeat for cookies before. I have made a plum based mincemeat before from a newspaper food column. I am not sure how long ago nor where the copy of that column is. So if Hubby is to have his pie, I needed to do research. I chose to look through my cookbooks instead of the web. I thought the older cookbooks would be the way to go but they had the meat in the mince. So this is based on the recipe from The Joy of Cooking 1997 edition. (So that is 20 years old but I have much older cookbooks (1940-1970) as well as some published in this century. It’s all perspective.

I made adjustments to the recipe so it is not Joy’s, it’s mine. And I had Hubby help since there was a lot of chopping involved and I had to figure proportions and get the ingredients together.

• 3 cups roughly chopped dried fruit; we used raisins, cranberries, dates, cherries, and apricots; I know these are small but chop them some more anyway
• 2 apples, peeled, cored, and chopped fine
• 2 largish pieces of crystallized ginger, chopped fine
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• zest and juice of half a lemon
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 stick (4 Tablespoon) butter
• 1/2 cup apple cider
• 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup brandy
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients. It’s mostly just chopping and then throwing everything into a pan. 

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring occasionally. Lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The mixture will come together and the bottom of the pan will be almost dry when scraped. This smells wonderful. Let cool. 

Prepare pie crusts for a covered pie. This part is not homemade although I do know how to make and have one homemade pie dough disk in the freezer, but I needed two. So I have “emergency pie crusts” in the form of the “just roll and bake” type. I had rolled out the bottom crust into my favorite 9-inch pie pan and placed it in the fridge. I saw this, I think, on the GBBO or other baking show. This is supposed to help prevent soggy bottoms.  

Scrape the mince mixture into the bottom crust and spread evenly. Top with the  other crust any way you like. This could be lattice, solid, decorative. Cut vents or use a pie bird in a solid top crust. I thought I would be festive so got out the Christmas cookie cutters. Brush top with egg wash if desired: one egg or egg yolk with a splash of water. I also sprinkled the top with Demerara sugar.

In hind sight I would have cut the top crust differently but I am satisfied with the results. Paul and Pru would think it is a little sloppy, so no Star Baker for me!

Bake the pie at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes. Then lower to 350 degrees F and bake for another 30-40 minutes. Cool on wire rack. (I think this is also to prevent soggy bottom.) Serve warm with ice cream.