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Maggie: Our first Christmas cake was baked today. The girls needed to taste test the mix. Maggie took it very seriously!
Elisabeth: She kept coming back for more. That cute little tongue cleaning up her cheeks.

A quiet weekend, full of time together, out shopping, eating ice cream and donuts, baking cake and bread and butter pudding, trying the paddling pool, house tidying, lawn mowing (the last two were Rob), then tonight a perfect evening to enjoy bolognese sauce and rigatoni, and a bath to clean the girls up!

Hut Christmas 2013 - fruit mince pies

I love them. Always have. Which is saying something as my parents always bought them from the supermarket! As a child it was another excuse to eat Mother's brandy cream. A boozy, whipped egg white lightened cream that we loved on hot Christmas pud or little pies.

So it was a bit of a revelation when on celebrating my first Christmas with Rob we made a batch of Nigella's mincemeat (from How to be a Domestic Goddess), full of fruit, apple, cider and brandy. Rather than faff about with tiny mince pies we often make one large pie, either topped with pastry stars, frangipane or crumble.

We still make a batch of mincemeat every year, and we vary it a little each year, for example adding hazelnuts, or Italian glacé cherries. Last year's mincemeat went uneaten as Rob changed to a gluten free diet. 

We're hoping to try a gluten free pastry in the next few weeks, but in the mean time Rob treated me to a half-dozen Jackman & McRoss pies, which I shamefully have to admit didn't last a day!

Do you like mince pies?

Do you make your own?