Chocolate Mincemeat

I've never made mincemeat before, I think it's been one of those things that has always looked a bit of a faff, probably due to the quantity of ingredients that the recipes usually have. After doing a bit of research though it didn't look like there was much to it so I thought I would give it a go, but adding some chocolate too to make it more appealing to my kids. I would've liked to add some nuts but I know the kids wouldn't eat it if there was big pieces of nuts in so decided to leave them out completely. I had intended to use the mincemeat straight away but ran out of time so I thought I would store it in a jar for a few days - after some more research I found that the best way to do this is to heat the mixture until the suet melts which helps to preserve the ingredients in the mincemeat. I also used vegetable suet so it's suitable for vegetarians.

Chocolate Mincemeat - makes approx 1kg

500g Dried Mixed Fruit - any combination of fruits you like - I used raisins, sultanas & mixed peel
100g vegetable suet
1 Bramley apple, peeled & grated (approx 100g of apple)
Juice & zest of 1 lemon
Juice & zest of 1 orange
150g demerara sugar
tsp Mixed spice
tsp Ginger
tsp Cinnamon
3 tbsp Dark Rum
60g Dark chocolate (70%), grated

• Mix all the ingredients together until well combined - & that's it!

It smells divine - especially the combination of chocolate, rum and orange.

If you do want to store it for longer than a day or two then place the bowl in the microwave or oven (if your bowl is suitable) until the suet has just melted and then pour into a sterilised jar.

My bowl wasn't suitable for microwave or oven use so I placed it over a pan of boiling water to melt the suet.