Mince pies were one of the earliest written British recipes, first documented in the Middle Ages. They originally contained minced meat, offal and suet, made tasty with generous spicing. They have since evolved into a spiced fruit pie traditionally eaten at Christmas time.
At Tivoli Road we make about 140 kg (300 lb) of fruit mince for our pies, starting in March. We macerate the dried fruit for a couple of weeks, and then when the apple season starts we prepare and add those. Once a month for the next nine months, we give it a good stir and add some Pedro Ximenez. By Christmas we’ve got a rich, heady mix of plump fruit, liquor and spices. Pedro Ximenez isn’t traditionally used, but it adds a lovely rich flavour to the mince. To appease the traditionalists, we also use brandy and apple cider, rounding the flavour out nicely. When the first batch of pies comes out of the oven everyone around the bakery knows that Christmas is coming.