Fruit mince muffins with eggnog icing

Eggnog is not part of Brazilian Christmas celebrations but everything I’ve made so far flavored as the drink turned out delicious, the sablé rounds and Flo Braker’s cake being my favorites –therefore, I bookmarked Rachel Allen’s muffins the minute I saw them on the book. This fantastic recipe is a keeper, not only because the delicious muffins match eggnog and fruit mince, flavors I love, but also because Allen’s homemade fruit mince is very tasty and easy to make – so good that I used it in my brownies, too.

Fruit mince muffins with eggnog icing
slightly adapted from the wonderful Cake (mine was bought here)

Muffins:
150g unsalted butter, softened
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (112g) granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 quantity fruit mince, cooled - recipe here
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt

Icing:
4 egg yolks
1 teaspoon corn starch
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 tablespoon brandy
½ cup (120ml) heavy cream
½ teaspoon finely grated nutmeg
12 dried cranberries, for decoration (optional) – if you decide to use them, place them in a small bowl with some hot water till they plump up

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F, and line a 12-hole (1/3 cup-capacity cavities) muffin pan with paper cases.
Muffins: using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition – scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla, then the cooled fruit mince. Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and fold in gently to combine. Divide between the muffin cases, filling each ¾ full, then bake for 20-25 minutes or until well risen, golden on top and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes then carefully remove from the pan and transfer to the rack. Cool completely.

Icing: whisk together all the ingredients and place in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring continuously, until it starts to boil and becomes thick, then remove from the heat and put through a fine sieve into a medium bowl. With an electric mixer, whisk continuously for a few minutes until the mixture has cooled and become very thick (after doing that, I refrigerated the icing for 30 minutes and it became easier to spread). Spoon the icing onto the muffins and decorate each with a dried cranberry.

Makes 12

Fruit mince brownies

The fruit mince tarts I made a couple of years ago were delicious and such a hit with the family that I intend to make them again this year; however, rolling out pastry is not the best idea for the oh, so hot days we’ve been having here lately – I know how much I suffered to make the snowy tree cookies, having to refrigerate the dough countless times. While I wait for a bit cooler days – knowing deep in my heart that they might not come anytime soon – I’ll have the fruit mince in brownie form, which to me is always a good thing. :)

Fruit mince brownies
adapted from the always delicious Delicious - Australia

150g dark chocolate, chopped
1 ¼ cups (218g) brown sugar, packed
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon (185g) unsalted butter, chopped
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
pinch baking powder
3 tablespoons cocoa
pinch of salt
1 quantity fruit mince – recipe follows
1 cup (110g) pecans, lightly toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20cm (8in) square cake pan, line it with foil leaving an overhang in two opposite sides and butter the foil as well.
Place chocolate, sugar and butter in a large saucepan over low heat, stirring until melted and well combined. Remove from heat, cool slightly, then stir in eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. Mix in the fruit mince and pecans. Spread into the prepared pan and bake for 20-25 minutes or until just set. Cool completely in the pan. Cut into squares to serve.
Brownies will keep in an airtight container for 2-3 days.

Makes 16

Fruit mince
slightly adapted from the magnificent Cake

80g mixed dried fruit (I used 40g dried cranberries + 40g golden raisins)
¼ cup (44g) brown sugar, packed
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored and coarsely grated
finely grated zest and juice of 1 small orange
1 tablespoon brandy

Place all the ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until all the liquid is nearly gone. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

Makes about 200g

Mince pie cupcakes with brandy butter icing

If I tell you that I kept this recipe in a very special place since January already thinking of this Christmas series will you promise not to think I am insane? :)

These cupcakes are incredibly tender and moist, one of the most delicious cupcakes I have made so far; they are so good that a simpler icing could be used with great results – or no icing at all.

Mince pie cupcakes with brandy butter icing
from Delicious Magazine

Cupcakes:
½ cup (1 stick/113g) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (112g) caster (superfine) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
150g good quality fruit mince
¾ cup (105g) self raising flour
1 tablespoons corn starch
½ teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Brandy butter icing:
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ¾ cups (245g) icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon brandy

Start with the cupcakes: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a 12-hole muffin pan – 1/3 cup capacity each cavity – with paper cases (you’ll get 10 cupcakes from this recipe; fill the empty cavities with water before placing the pan in the oven).
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy, then beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape the bowl with a silicone spatula.
Fold in the fruit mince and stir until well incorporated. Sift the flour, corn starch, baking powder and salt over the mixture and carefully fold together with the spatula – do not overmix.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans filling each cavity two-thirds full. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until risen and golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean – the cakes will appear moist, even when cooked.
Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then carefully transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Make the icing: in the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy, add the milk and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the icing sugar, then beat until you have a smooth, light and creamy buttercream. Beat in the brandy.
Ice the cupcakes with the buttercream and decorate with candy canes, sugar flowers or silver sugar balls.

Makes 10

Cinnamon-chocolate fruit mince tarts

I’d been meaning to make mincemeat pies forever, because I think they look absolutely adorable! But I always gave up at the idea of using suet, or anything similar to it.

That is why this recipe is perfect: besides being suet-free, both the pastry and the filling are delicious, with a not-very-Christmas-but-yummy hint of chocolate.

Cinnamon-chocolate fruit mince tarts
slightly adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

270g dark brown sugar
300g raisins
300g dried cranberries
3 tablespoons brandy
100g unsalted butter, melted
100g glacé orange, finely chopped
2 Granny Smith apples, coarsely grated
1 orange, finely grated zest and juice
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise, seeds scraped
100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
1 ½ tablespoons demerara sugar, for scattering

Cinnamon pastry:
180g softened unsalted butter
200g pure icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
4 eggs
500g all purpose flour
pinch of salt

Combine all ingredients except chocolate and demerara sugar in a large bowl, stir to combine, then spoon into sterilized jars* and refrigerate for at least 1 day or up to 2 weeks, inverting jar occasionally. Makes about 5 cups of fruit mince.
For cinnamon pastry, beat butter, sugar and cinnamon in an electric mixer until creamy, but not fluffy (4-5 minutes). Add eggs one at a time and beat until well combined. Beat in flour and salt, turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead lightly until just smooth (at this point I needed to add 1 ½ tablespoons of flour because the dough was too soft), then divide pastry in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 3 hours to rest.
Roll out each pastry half on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick, cut out 11cm-diameter rounds with a pastry cutter, place on a tray and refrigerate until required. Cut out small stars or other decorative shapes from the pastry scraps, place on a tray lined with baking paper and refrigerate until required. Re-roll any remaining scraps to 3mm thick, refrigerate until firm (30 minutes), then cut out more rounds and decorative shapes with small biscuit cutters and add shapes to tray.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; butter twenty four ½ cup (120ml) capacity muffin pans. Line the pans with the pastry rounds and refrigerate until required.
Add chocolate to fruit mince mixture, stir to combine. Spoon fruit mince mixture into each pastry-lined pan, leaving a 5mm gap at top. Top each with a pastry shape, brush lightly with water, scatter with demerara sugar and bake until pastry is golden and crisp (12-15 minutes). Cool completely in pans, then remove. Fruit mince tarts will keep stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

* I did not sterilize the jars and kept the mince mixture in the fridge for only 2 days

Makes 24 – I made 1/3 of the recipe above, used 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity pans and got 12 tartlets