Ok if you haven’t, now’s the time! Here’s a lovely recipe from Clermont County, Ohio reader Kathy Lane. Kathy is the mom of our neighbor, Wes Lane. Wes and his wife, Liz, live a couple doors down from us and have 2 of the cutest boys ever, Oliver and Calvin.

Anyway, Wes brought me a piece of his mom’s mincemeat pie (she also makes the best fruitcakes, too – let me know if you want that recipe…) and no kidding, it was so delish and the crust so tender.  Kathy makes the filling in big batches enough for 3-4 pies for freezing. You can narrow it down to make 1 pie.

KATHY LANE’S MINCEMEAT PIE AND AMISH CRUST

Now when you go to fill the pie, use a double crust. Poke a few holes in the top crust for steam release during baking.

Filling makes enough for three 10″ pies or four 9″ pies/
Ingredients pie filling

2 pounds venison or lean ground beef, 10% fat/90% lean

1 pound citron

15 oz. raisins

2 cups chopped walnuts or other nuts (I’m going to use hickory nuts)

8 medium apples, peeled and chopped

4 cups apple cider or juice

2 cups white corn syrup

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons each: cloves, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cinnamon

Instructions

Cook uncovered over low heat in heavy pan until very thick, about 1-1/2 hours.

Fill pie shells and bake in preheated 375 degree oven 45-55 minutes or so. Check after 45 minutes. 

Can be frozen in pie size portions.

PIE CRUST (From an Amish recipe)

Ingredients

For 2 pies, 9″ double crusts

4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup lard

1 egg

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup ice water

Instructions

Mix dry ingredients together. Combine butter and lard together.

Cut in butter and lard mixture until coarse crumbs form, about the size of peas.

In another ball, blend egg, vinegar and ice water. Add this mixture to dry ingredients and mix to form ball.

Refrigerate until ready to roll out. (Dough can be frozen – I like to roll it out into disks before freezing).