Mincemeat Muffins
I woke up early this morning, and finding myself downstairs in the kitchen in the dark surrounded with half cleaned-out cupboards and drawers and a sink more than full with dirty dishes, I opted to make muffins. Breakfast is important, right?
Also, that half jar of mincemeat in the fridge was far more pressing than total kitchen reorganization. (I do this every holiday week – decide to overhaul the kitchen or bedroom or basement, or all three. Most often my gumption runs out after I’ve taken everything out, and before I put it all back away.)
Mincemeat is one of those things that -unlike chocolate and cheese and wine- does not translate well to any season beyond Christmas. Namely January. Eating mince tarts in the middle of January just does not taste the same as the middle of December. But what else do you do with all that mincemeat?
Bake muffins!
They won’t come out tasting of mince tarts, but of themselves – moist and fruity and wonderfully spiced. You can add chopped apple or pear and pecans or walnuts too, if you like. And if you have a little more than a cup of mincemeat, or a little less, don’t sweat it – they’ll still work.
And the house will smell wonderful when everyone gets up.
Mincemeat Muffins

Preheat oven to 400°F and line twelve muffin cups with paper liners.
In a largish bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a smaller bowl (or Pyrex measuring cup) stir together the milk, oil and egg, and add it to the flour along with the mincemeat. Stir until the batter is almost combined, then add the apple and nuts and stir just until blended. Don't worry about getting the lumps out.
Fill the muffin cups almost full and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch. Serve warm.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F and line twelve muffin cups with paper liners.
In a largish bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a smaller bowl (or Pyrex measuring cup) stir together the milk, oil and egg, and add it to the flour along with the mincemeat. Stir until the batter is almost combined, then add the apple and nuts and stir just until blended. Don't worry about getting the lumps out.
Fill the muffin cups almost full and bake for 25 minutes, or until golden and springy to the touch. Serve warm.
Another tasty way I found to use up extra mincemeat is in and around the balls of Monkey Bread (or, I suppose, any other pull apart sort of sweetbread-y kind of loaf).
Mincemeat is wonderful in choc brownies – I use however much is leftover from whatever!! Well, up to half a cup!!!! Moist, yummy to mincemeat lovers and a mystery to those who are not!!!! I’ve never had anyone say “yuck, what’s in this?” More for the baker I say!
the muffins look wonderful. though i find myself disagreeing w/ you a bit as i think mincement tastes appropiate for longer than jan – maybe not in the summer – but at least through march or april 🙂
do you have a brand of mincement that you are particulary partial to?
dear julie, just tried these, they are lovely! hope you and your family have a good start in/ into the new year! all the best from very faraway berlin,anja
Yummy – we tried these, Julie, and they are great and do make the house smell so good! Another recipe to add to the binder. Happy New Year to you and yours.
I don’t really like mincemeat tarts but love the sound of these muffins!
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Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups basically stand-alone
but there are more Reese’s products inside the line.
This recipe was liked by all family members, even kids. Nice texture and moist. I used my green tomatoes mincemeat in it…. loved it.
Julie, just made these muffins for the holidays; yum. Nice easy recipe & the muffins cooked up beautifully. Thank you…
Julie really liked the idea of mincemeat muffins and they turned out good have a question about the baking powder if using double acting baking powder should I use only 1 tsp rather than 1 tbsp as you have in the recipe?
Just made a batch, well it made 18, muffins. They are great.
Made these as written – I thought they were wonderful. The nuts are not optional. Made 12 jumbo muffins.
I just made a batch of mincemeat and was looking for different ways use it. I came across this recipe for mincemeat muffins. The muffins were delicious we enjoyed them so much. They were very moist and stayed most until the last one was eaten. Great recipe I will treasure for ever.
Oh my God!!!! Best muffins EVER! I love mincemeat straight out of the jar and in pie but these muffins are beyond good. Gonna grab another jar when go shopping next week 🙂
Very tasty! ? The spices really melt into the background. That might be a good thing if you have some tasters that say they don’t like mincemeant. The tart apple is a nice addition to brighten them up. They are also not too sweet, which I like.