Life, and What I Ate: Makin' a mince pie!

Okay, this mince pie doesn't have any meat in it, just pecans, apples, raisins, sugar and spices. My dad spent a decade not eating mince pie because he thought there was meat in it. Ten years of missing out on the goodness of this yummy pie. This is The Husband's favorite and I make it for him every year during the holidays.

Here we go:

First the crust. You'll need:

3 cups flour

3 tablespoons shortening

(you can use lard if you like, but not bacon grease)

8 tablespoons butter

about 1/4 cup cold water

a big bowl and a pastry cutter, two forks or just your hands

Put the butter and shortening in with the flour.

Cut the fat into the flour with the cutter or whatever it is you're using. I like to start with a pastry cutter and then finish with my fingers. In some older cookbooks you'll see the process referred to as "rubbing", meaning actually rubbing the fat and flour between your hands. That doesn't work for me, but I'm probably doing it wrong.

When it starts to look like Bisquik with lumps, you're just about there. The fat should be worked through but the mixture shouldn't be fine. This is one of those weird things where you just have to know how to do it through experimentation and practice, but once you get the hang of it you can do it in your sleep.

Now, pour in about half the water. Make your hand into a cup and start to scoop the water into the flour, try to work the dough into a ball, adding more water as needed until you have succeeded in doing just that.

The dough should just stick together and when you stick your thumb in it it should leave a hole.

Wrap it up in plastic and let it hang out in the fridge for a couple of hours or until you need it. Yes, that's Tab in my fridge because Tab is the most.

Moving on to pie filling.

2 cups dark raisins

2 cups pecans

4 golden delicious apples

1 1/2 cups sugar

(I used sugar in the raw because I can never remember if we have sugar or not. Generally, I guess wrong that we don't have sugar, then I buy more sugar and we end up with multiple bags of sugar. Then I assume for a while that we do have sugar and don't buy any. Turns out we didn't have any white sugar and there's got to be a LOT of money in it for me to even go into the parking lot of a grocery store the day before Thanksgiving so I used what I had on hand.)

4 tablespoons butter

3/4 cup apple juice

juice of one lemon and the zest of half of it

1 tablespoon cider vinegar

a generous sprinkle of cinnamon and whatever other spices you like (nutmeg, ground cloves, pumpkin pie spice. Stuff like that)

Roughly chop up the pecans and raisins.

Peel, core and chop the apples. Is it me or does the whole apple seems to be contemplating his fate?

Put all the ingredients in a pot and put it over medium heat until it comes to a simmer. Lower the heat and let it bubble until the liquid is almost all gone, the pot is almost dry and the nuts and fruits are coated in a thick, syrupy sauce.

It'll look like the photo above, expect the process to take between 40 minutes and an hour. At this point you'll want to taste it and adjust the seasoning if you like. Set it aside and let it cool.

Get your pastry crust out and split it into two equal parts. Plop one down on a floured board and start to roll it out.

Obviously, you're looking for a circle for your pie pan. I like to take pieces from the uneven edges and move them to a different spot to change the shape, then keep rolling.

Now that it's big enough to line the pan, roll it around the pin and then unroll it into the pie pan.

Be sure to gently pat the dough all the way down into the bottom. Trim the edge or just smoosh it into a rim.

Repeat that process with the other piece of dough and put it on top of the filling that I should have told you to pour in. I'm assuming you know to put the filling in.

Cut steam vents in the top. I get fancy-schmancy and make leaves and berries to decorate.

Pop this into a 400 degree oven for half and hour, then lower the heat to 350 and let it go another half an hour.