Getting Ready For Father Christmas

When Father Christmas arrived at our house, he always found a plate of mince tarts and a tall, cold glass of milk.

Father Christmas, as Santa Claus is known in England, certainly enjoyed these mince tarts as the plate was always empty when I awoke in the morning!

And your Two Chums love, love mince tarts.  They are a traditionally English Christmas-time fare and, while they used to be made with suet and meat, they are now made with fruit, raisins, currants, apples, etc.  They are absolutely yummy and when I have that first bite of a mince tart each year, I know that the holiday season is here.

You can find mince tarts to buy here, or you can make them.  Most of the ones that you buy are very good but I do prefer to make them.  You can make them from scratch or, if  you are like me, you will make the tart crust and then use an already made up fruit mixture to fill them.    The tart crusts you will make by following the recipe for pie crust.  After rolling out your dough, you will cut circles out, large enough to put into a muffin pan so that the crust  comes up around the sides (about 5″ diameter).  Bake the tart crusts and, when cool, fill with Crosse and Blackwell Mincemeat Filling. 

Now, please do not, absolutely DO NOT, be put off by the word “mincemeat”!   There is no MEAT in it!  It is yummy fruit.   (It is yummy as long as you like raisins!) 

Now, to go along with your mince tarts, you might like to make some brandy butter, or “hard cause” as it is sometimes called.   You do this by combining butter with powdered sugar so that it is the consistency of icing and then adding brandy to it.  Put it in the frig for a day to harden and then you are ready to start the holiday season!

Oh my gosh, these surely add to the joy of the season!