Ahhh, the best laid plans. I had, before Christmas, been a busy making up plenty of homemade mincemeat to dish out to friends, and kept some back to do my own baking. I was then very full of the ‘flu and spent most of Christmas asleep or so drugged up on Beechams that I’d be crying every half hour. Which means that I’ve had two jars of mincemeat that missed out on the festive rush….that’ll teach me for being organised.
The British Larder – great website unless you are hungry – has all sorts of nice ideas for different ways with mincemeat. I decided for the ‘power bar’ option, as this felt like the most distanced from an actual mince pie, and looked like the kind of thing I’d eat for breakfast….well, maybe an afternoon treat given the amount of rum I put in my mincemeat.
All in all, I’m not sure I’d make this again, even if I do make the same mistake as I did last year. The pastry base is a bit more faff than I’m looking for in a recipe like this, although I will be using the crumble topping for any number of other breakfast bar recipes. I think the main reason is that it is just too much like mince pies, which I’m still associating with the taste of ‘flu remedy.
Recipe after the jump.
Mincemeat Power Bars
Pastry:
85g plain white flour
10g icing sugar, sifted
50g butter
1/2 tbs ice cold water
Filling:
200g mincemeat – my recipe here
Topping:
30g butter
25g white flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
25g rolled oats
20g caster sugar
40g flaked almonds
Pre-heat the oven to 175ºC and line a 22cm x 12cm x 7cm loaf tin with parchment paper. (I used two loaf tins.)
1) Put the flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs or wet sand. Add in the ice cold water and bring together with a knife into a firm dough.
2) Roll out the pastry and line the bottom of the tins with it.
3) Spread the mincemeat over the pastry base.
4) Place the flour, cinnamon, oats and caster sugar into a bowl. Rub the butter into the mixture with your fingertips until it looks like wet sand. Add in the flaked almonds and mix with your fingers.
5) Spread the crumble topping over the mincemeat and press the topping in firmly with your hands.
6) Bake for about 35 – 40 minutes until golden brown.
7) Let it cool completely before cutting into 4cm slices.
