All of this week’s posts have built up to these mince pies. So what exactly is a mince pie? A mince pie is a traditional dessert eaten in the UK at Christmas time. It dates way way back to the 13th century and the European crusaders but the early versions contained meat and suet. Suet is still used in some recipes today. It’s a type of beef fat and helps give the mincemeat a long shelf life. It sounds a little gross but the pies don’t taste of meat.

Every year for the last six years Alex asked me if I would make him mince pies. Every year I was mean and said no. They are plentiful back in the UK and were on sale all the time. The thought of that brown fruit mixture totally turned me off. I could not wrap my head around eating the stuff. It is just not part of the American Christmas tradition.

I have a love hate relationship with raisins. I like raisins for a snack, I like them in my bagels but I don’t really like them in my cake or desserts. It just feels wrong!