Tuesday, March 10, 2015

No Meat Mincemeat Pie




This is how this recipe started. 



It's an old Baker family recipe that's been handed down to me. It strikes me that older recipes are a little less exact than recipes we write now. Maybe baking was as much oral/practical tradition as it was written, I don't know. But this seems like a recipe written more as a reminder than as instructions for someone who has never made it before. At any rate, it's a dessert pie THAT CONTAINS MEAT. Which doesn't go over too well with my people.


But...I like the spiced fruits and other flavors in mincemeat. Everything except the meat. So I wanted to try a little revamp.

Here's what I came up with:


No Meat Mincemeat Pie (in progress) *click here for printable version*

Pie pastry for 1 9-inch, 2 crust pie
2 c. peeled and diced Granny Smith apple (½ inch dice)
1 c. golden raisins
½ c. dried tart cherries (or more)
¼ c. currants
¼ c. chopped figs (or more)
2 T. finely chopped lemon rind
¼ c. brown sugar
¼ c. white sugar
½ c. apple juice
1 T. cinnamon
¼ tsp. each mace, nutmeg, allspice
juice and grated rind of 1 orange
1 tsp. salt
1 T. bourbon
2 T. butter cut into 8 pieces



Stir all ingredients except butter together in a saucepan and boil until apples start to soften and juice is reduced by about half. Pour into a 9 inch pie crust and dot the top with butter pieces. Top with second crust (vented). Bake at 400 for 45 to 50 minutes.



You'll notice it's pretty unrecognizable compared to the original recipe. It's almost like the beginnings of the fruitcake I make. Which isn't a bad thing, in my opinion. Now, a couple of things: 1. This was my first attempt. There was *something* missing. Something that I couldn't quite put my finger on. Possibly the depth the molasses brings. Next time around, I'm going to try adding a tablespoon of molasses and see where that gets us. I'm also going to add a little more of both figs and cherries (hence, the "or more" instructions). 2. This is kind of a "throw in what you like" pie. Don't like raisins? Leave them out! Prefer dried apricots to figs? Throw them in! I think the point is to end up with approximately this amount of dried fruit (2 cups total). Same with spices. You like ginger? Throw it in there!

I guess it really needs a new name. Spicefruit Pie? You people must be more clever than I am--come up with something!


TGIP Rating--No Meat Mincemeat Pie--KEEPER/EXPERIMENTER. I need to try some more options before I'll call this one finished. And I need to have the Pie King try it.

Next up: Well, as you probably know, this Saturday is the ultimate Pi Day (3.1415). Seems like I need to make an epic pie. I've been wanting to try Momofuku's Crack Pie for ages. Now's the time.

4 comments:

Bill said...

"Mincemeatless Pie"?

Admin said...

I love Pi day

LauraMedley said...
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Unknown said...
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