I know, I know, Christmas is over. But you might have the odd jar of mincemeat lurking in your cupboard. Or, like me, you might have bought some scrummy mince pie filling in the Holland and Barrett penny sale. Who knows.
Anyway, because I had this, and some leftover marzipan, I made some bars. I am not a pastry fan, so the base is a bit like a caramel shortbread base, but with oats added in for some texture. I used some wholegrain spelt flour and some white, but all white would be fine. Wholegrain spelt (I use Dove’s farm) seems to work well in most baking- often I use it in cookie recipes to replace all the flour.
Anyway. If you fancy making it here is the recipe:
For the base:
150g margarine (I used Clover additions)
40g soft light brown sugar
180g plain flour (I used part wholegrain spelt and part white)
60g oats
1 tsp mixed spice
Topping:
400g mince pie filling (I used Meridian so I needed a little more than a jar but you could use normal mincemeat)
100g (approx) marzipan
Flaked almonds to sprinkle
Icing sugar to dust
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a pan with baking paper (I use a brownie pan from Steamer Trading Cookshop- the best size for most of the things I make).
Make the base by creaming together the butter and sugar, then stirring in the oats, spice and flour until it resembles crumbs. Pour it into the pan and press down with a metal spoon.
Bake in the oven for 15 mins until pale.
Meanwhile make some pretty shapes with the marzipan by rolling it out (dust with a little icing sugar to stop it sticking) and then cutting it out. You could cut it into lines for a lattice effect but I prefer shapes.
Remove the base from the oven and spread the mince pie filling over. Sprinkle with flaked almonds, dust with a little icing sugar and then top with the marzipan shapes.
The marzipan shapes are the best bit.
Then return to the oven and bake for a further 10 mins- this will finish cooking the base, toast the nuts slightly and melt the marzipan.
Leave to cool and then slice into bars/ squares.
These were for Sunday tea. So much nicer than a mince pie.
In other news, I totally rested over the weekend (well I did a lot of walking but that was it)- I was feeling totally fine so went on a short (2 mile) run after work yesterday. I did loads of stretches when I finished, and I am pretty sure I had no trouble. I was worried about this morning (because it seems to be delayed after a run, so not sure if it is related) but all good so far. No two runs in a row for me though, so today will be a rest. At least I have kicked off Jantastic now!
I’m not a fan of mincemeat but that looks delicious! I love the marzipan stars on top. 🙂
Good news about the running. Long may it continue to stay pain free!
Thanks- I hope so too. The marzipan would be good on an apple crumble type thing too.
What a lovely way to use up that last jar of mince meat and to keep that special taste of Christmas going. I miss it already!
I miss it too!!
Mincemeat and marzipan is such an awesome combination, love the idea of these – how fun is it to have a little piece of Christmas to take to work 🙂
Ha- none left for work! They were all eaten on Sunday (there were 8 of us!)
I love mince pie filling but I used all mine up over Christmas in my porridge!
I love it in porridge too- I bought some in the penny sale as I didn’t want Christmas to end!
That looks amazing, I am a lover of marzipan whichever way and it sounds incredible with sweet mince meat, yum!
Yup- it is a fab combo!
I’m to scared to try mince pies in general in case I like them too much, I don;t need to add any more vices to my repertoire 😉 I’ve never fancied marzipan though … not sure why it may be the smell of it??!!
YAY for Jantastic, I’m following everyone on the RBB Facebook group and look forwards to reading about everyones runs.
I love anything almond-y so marzipan is a favourite of mine.
Hope you won’t get too fed up with all our updates on there 😉
Sounds lovely! We have mince pies in the freezer so we have e potential for mince pies year round hehe. I do love them!
Good news about your running, and you have a sensible approach! I think January for jantastic will be rubbish for me with my running…I rivalled you by the way just as a bit of fun 🙂 I’m sure you will out do me!
Oh cool will look out for that! You can play your joker also, so if you are missing runs you can get a boost that way.
I bought mince meat in the penny sale from Holland! Perfect!! 🙂
Snap! Love it! 🙂