On Thursday I finally admitted to myself that the huge batch of mincemeat I made last year simply wasn’t up to scratch. I’d been seduced by the marvellous prose surrounding Tamasin Day-Lewis’ family recipe in “Good Tempered Food” but it turned out to be utterly lacking in succulence when cooked (odd considering how much suet it called for). Very disappointing, especially since I had such vivid memories of the moist, boozy, luscious goodness of Nigella’s suet-free apple mincemeat which I made in 2001.

And so, it was with considerable relief that I set to work chopping apples all the apples needed for “Hettie Potter’s Mincemeat” and beaming with pleasure as my kitchen filled with all the smells of Christmas. The best thing about this mincemeat is that you can use it immediately and still have wonderful mince-pies. If you let it mature for a month then you will have amazing mince-pies; and if you let it mature for a year, you will have sublime mince-pies. I know people say that you shouldn’t keep mince-meat for so long, but everything is cooked and the hefty finishing touch of rum keeps everything safe. I suspect a little fermentation does still take place, but I certainly don’t object to even boozier mince-pies!

Nigella’s Frangipane Mince Pie recipe really showcases this mincemeat. Dense, buttery, almondy pies with an incredible burst of complex mincemeat in the middle. I’ve often used the frangipane topping with a plain shortcrust pastry (which works extremely well), but this year I decided to make the sweet almond pastry and complete the Nigella Experience.

The pastry is very forgiving; I’m not particularly good at rolling pastry out (it always sticks, no matter how much flour I use on board or pin) and thus spend a lot of time patching the pastry and generally over-working it shamefully. The mince-pies made with the re-rolled pastry scraps taste just as good as their virgin sisters. Plus, all the re-rolling meant that I managed to get an extra five mince-pies out of the recipe!

We’ve been munching these mince-pies on their own, heated up with double cream poured over, and I’m thinking of whipping some cream along with a little bit of mandarin liqueur and dolloping that on top….

Frangipane Mince Pies, from How To Be A Domestic Goddess (Nigella Lawson)

for the pastry:
175g plain flour, preferably Italian 00
30g ground almonds
65g icing sugar
pinch of salt
125g cold unsalted butter, diced
2 large egg yolks, beaten with a tablespoon of iced water

for the topping:
approximately 200g mincemeat
2 large eggs
90g caster sugar
90g unsalted butter, melted
90g ground almonds
4 tablespoons flaked almonds

2 x 12-bun tartlet trays
7cm fluted biscuit cutter

Make the pastry by putting the flour, ground almonds, sugar and salt into the bowl of the food processor and pulse to combine. Add the diced butter and process till you�ve got a flaky, crumbly mix. Now start adding, tablespoon by tablespoon, the egg and water mix down the funnel, pulsing as you do so, until the pastry looks like it�s about to form a ball around the blade. Turn it out onto a surface, press to form a cohesive dough, shape into 2 discs, cover with clingfilm and put into the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Roll out one of the discs and stamp out 12 circles slightly larger than the tart indentations. Press these in gently, patting base and sides and put back in the fridge for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200�C/Gas Mark 6.

Put a scant teaspoon of mincemeat into each pastry-lined cavity. In a bowl, beat together the eggs and sugar, then pour in, still beating, the melted butter. Stir in the ground almonds and then dollop a tablespoon of this mixture on top. Sprinkle with flaked almonds and then put in the oven to cook for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked through and the frangipane gold and brown-flecked.

Take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. When the tin�s cold, repeat with the second disc, remaining mincemeat and frangipane.

Makes 24.