Christmas is nearly here, and for me that’s an excuse to indulge in my favourite foodstuffs, before trying (and failing) to lose wait come January. Christmas for me is sugared almonds, sausage rolls, gingerbread, and of course the good old fashioned mince pie!

Random Interupption- Mince Pie Trivia!
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It is considered lucky to eat 12 mince pies - one for each day of christmas. Its bad luck to refuse a mince pie!

The first recipe for mince pie dates from 1615, and includes amongst its ingredients two rabbits, two pigeons, two partridges, a hare, a pheasant, a capon, the livers of all these animals, as well as eggs, pickled mushrooms, dried fruit and spices - just a little bit different from what we eat today!

When stirring mincemeat, you should always stir it in a clockwise direction - to do it anti-clockwise brings bad luck until the next yuletide.

Interruption over- back to the review!
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Now, you can make your own mincemeat, but its time consuming , so what I tend to do, is buy a prepared mincemeat - Robinsons- and add my own little ingredients for that super-luxury taste.

I'm not going to go into overly long descriptions of the packaging - there’s a photo so you can see it for yourself. Suffice it to say it’s a simple glass jar with a black and white screw lid.

The mincemeat inside is a brown in colour, through which you can see raisins, chunks of various fruits, suet, and the aroma of it is just wonderful - Cinnamon, Cloves, Lemon Peel and loads of other scents assail your senses. Now, naturally, you don’t want to be eating this uncooked - the suet would taste just disgusting raw!

So, In a mince pie (and I baked one plain one without all my usual added extras just for this review!) once cooked, it tastes amazing - rich, intensely flavoured with raisins, apple, lemon , cinnamon, and so man y other flavours all jumping about on your tongue . And if you eat it hot, its even nicer, although be careful not to burn your tongue.

However, (and this is why I add in my own ingredients) I don't find it course enough for my taste, it lacks a little texture. Sooo...I add in a few roughly chopped nuts and dates, and some rum soaked sultanas, mix it, and the larger lumps give a more luxurious taste, with the rum from the sultanas adding a kick!

A 411g jar, enough for 24 mince pies, costs 89p at my local supermarket, which is pretty decent value. On its own, I give Robertson’s mincemeat 4 stars out of 5 for lack of texture, but with a little experimenting with adding ingredients, there’s no reason why you can't make a 5 star pud!