Clementine Sweet Mincemeat Loaf

This cake is fruity and moist and is a lovely substitute to traditional heavy Christmas fruitcake. Candied clementines give it an extra sweet decadence. Added bonus is it uses up the leftover sweet mincemeat from making mincemeat tarts!

Ingredients:

2/3 cup butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 cups flour

2 tsps baking powder

1 1/2 cups sweet mincemeat (if short on mincemeat add a few raisins)

1 cup mixed peel

2 clementines, zest and juice

 

Candied clementines:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

2 clementines

Start with making the candied clementines because they take a bit of time to make. Slice the clementines as thinly as possible. Mix the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the clementine slices and reduce heat. Simmer for 2 hours. The clementines will appear translucent.

Carefully lift the slices out of the saucepan and onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake in a 200°F oven for 45-60 minutes until just tacky to the touch. Once out of the oven turn each slice over onto a clean spot on the paper and let cool completely. Reserve the remaining syrup in the pot.

For the cake, cream the butter and brown sugar together, then add the eggs one at a time. Mix the sweet mincemeat, mixed peel, clementine zest and juice together and add to the butter mixture. I was short on leftover mincemeat so I added 1/4 cup of raisins. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the wet ingredients. Grease and line an 8 X 4" loaf pan and turn the batter into the pan. Bake at 325°F for 1 1/4 hours or until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool 10-15 minutes then turn out onto a rack to cool completely. Leave it upside down.

Using a silicone brush, glaze the entire loaf with the reserved clementine syrup. Place the clementine slices in a (more decoratively placed than I) pattern on the loaf and glaze over the slices and loaf.

Love that shine!

Cool completely before slicing.

Adapted from: patisseriemakesitperfect.co.uk

Link to my Two Bite Sweet Mincemeat Tarts:

https://www.hotandcoldrunningmom.ca/2021/12/two-bite-sweet-mincemeat-tarts.html 

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Two Bite Sweet Mincemeat Tarts

Mincetarts are a must-have in our house for Christmas! They're Santa's favourite 🎅

Ingredients:

All you need is a pound or so of pie dough and a jar of sweet mincemeat.

Buy your favourite sweet mincemeat or in the fall cook up some green tomatoes and make your own sweet mincemeat with this recipe ⬇️ which includes both regular and slow cooker methods.

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-sweet-mincemeat.html

I must say I have been making tarts for years (decades) and have always struggled with how to make them and keep the edges crimped and not have the filling all ooze out through baking. I was just never really happy with them. This year... success!

Usually I would use either a tart pan, placing the bottom in, filling then awkwardly pinching the edges together. Or the hand pie method, place the bottom on a baking sheet, filling and crimping. I even tried making them like Chinese dumplings one year! (They were actually pretty cute!) But this year I did it this way.

Place a circle of pie dough the size of the tart pan on the work surface, spoon just enough mincemeat to mound in the middle. Take a slightly larger circle of dough, use a finger to wet the edge with water and lay on top. Gently press the edges, try not to have air bubbles, then crimp all around with a fork. Take a glass and place it over the tart and press down to cut the edges evenly again because they will be a little jagged after the fork crimping. With a thin spatula, lift the little pie off the counter and into the tart pan where it will drop into the space. Poke the top with a fork.

Bake the tarts at 375°F for 16-18 minutes or until golden.

Not traditional, but if you want to be a little extra, whisk 3/4 cup icing sugar and 1 1/2 tbsps fresh lemon juice together and drizzle some glaze on top of each tart....and spr!nkles. Can't forget the spr!nkles 😊

Skillet Sweet Mincemeat Pie

Continuing with my cast iron skillet baking obsession, here is my holiday edition! (Please disregard the ugly old oven mitt in the picture!)

Ingredients:
1 lb pie dough
1 jar sweet mincemeat (about 4 cups, bought or homemade)

You can check out my homemade sweet mincemeat recipe at the end of this post, along with a bunch of skillet pies!

Roll out the pie dough large enough to overhang an 8 or 9" skillet, so 11 or 12" round. Place it in the skillet and pour in the sweet mincemeat.

Fold the overhanging edges up towards the middle, crimping as you go around. You can brush on a little egg wash, I didn't here but should have.

Bake at 400 F for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.

And the best part... no leaks!!

Slow Cooker Sweet Mincemeat
https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2015/10/slow-cooker-sweet-mincemeat.html

Green Tomato Sweet Mincemeat (Stovetop version)
https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2014/11/green-tomato-sweet-mincemeat.html

And more skillet pies!!!

Cast Iron Apple Pie

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2019/10/cast-iron-pan-apple-pie.html

Strawberry and Apple Cast Iron Skillet Pie

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2019/10/strawberry-and-apple-cast-iron-skillet.html

Skillet Meat Pie (Tourtière)

https://hotandcoldrunningmom.blogspot.com/2019/11/skillet-meat-pie-tourtiere.html