These easy mincemeat cookies are rich, soft, chewy and full of festive flavours with warming spices and fruit mincemeat mixed into the dough.
They are a Christmassy twist on classic cookies and are a great way to use up leftover mincemeat.
Mince pies are synonymous with Christmas in the UK, but if you want another option to use up some mincemeat, or just fancy something different, then these vegan mincemeat cookies are a great option.
They are really easy to make and use a classic chewy cookie base with mincemeat stirred through; think chocolate chip cookies but with boozy, spiced dried fruit instead of chocolate chips.
Ingredient Details:
Mincemeat: No, for anyone outside of the UK, this doesn't contain actual meat. It is a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, alcohol, fat and spices which is used to make mince pies at Christmas.
Lots of shop-bought mincemeat is vegan friendly, but do check the jar just in case as occasionally it may contain beef suet or butter. I used one from Morrison's. Try and get a good quality one which is a bit thicker and heavier on the fruit, cheap mincemeat can be overly syrupy which may affect the texture of the cookies.
You can also use home-made mincemeat.
Spices: A touch of cinnamon, cloves and allspice helps accentuate the flavour from the mincemeat, you can add more if you want your cookies extra spicy.
Vegan butter: Please, for the love of holy baking, use a block butter/margarine to make these cookies, not the spreadable kind in a tub.
The spreadable kind contains too much water and may make your dough too soft and your cookies too cakey.
Non-dairy milk: Non-dairy milk replaces the moisture that would usually come from egg. You can use any kind you like except coconut milk, but I recommend using soy milk if possible. It has the highest protein content so is the closest swap for egg.
Plain flour: Just regular plain (all-purpose) flour is best here. I haven't tried making these gluten-free.
Baking powder and bicarb: Baking powder generally makes for taller, cakier cookies, and bicarbonate of soda makes for craggier, denser, browner cookies. I find that a mix of both provides the best texture.
Sugar: White sugar leads to thin and crisp cookies, and brown sugar leads to tall and moist cookies; using a mix of both gives you the best of both worlds and the best texture.
Either caster or granulated sugar will work and I recommend using light brown soft rather than dark.
How To Make Mincemeat Cookies:
(Full measurements and instructions can be found in the recipe card at the bottom of the page)
- Step 1: Whisk together the melted butter, caster and light brown sugars, milk and vanilla extract.
- Step 2: Mix in the baking powder and soda, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and salt, followed by the flour. Finally stir in the mincemeat. Refrigerate for a couple of hours.
- Step 3: Divide the dough into 12, roll into balls and place spaced apart on 2 baking sheets. Chill for 15 minutes.
- Step 4: Bake for about 18 minutes, until browned around the edges.
Top Tips:
For the best results make sure that you follow the recipe closely. As always, I highly recommend weighing your ingredients using the gram measurements (with a digital scale), rather than the cup conversions. Cup measurements are simply not accurate enough for baking and I cannot guarantee the best results if you use them. A gram is always a gram, but a cup won’t always measure out the same amount.
Tablespoon and teaspoon measurements are for proper measuring spoons, NOT regular kitchen spoons. A Tablespoon is 15ml and a teaspoon is 5ml and they should be level, not heaped.
Cookies may seem like a simple thing to bake but they can actually be quite tempermental and any seemingly minor changes to the recipe or exact ingredients used can have a drastic effect. For this reason you should make the recipe exactly as written.
The cookie dough is very soft when it is first made, it is important to chill it thoroughly before attempting to roll it into balls.
Bake the cookies on a metal baking sheet, not in a glass dish or on a silicone sheet. These do not conduct heat in the same way as metal does so the cookies won't turn out as well.
Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies are fragile while hot, so don't attempt to move them from the tray straight away or they may fall apart.
If you want perfectly round cookies, as soon as you take them out of the oven, use a large round cookie cutter or food ring that is just slightly larger than the cookies to 'scoot' round the cookies to reshape any wonky bits.
FAQ's:
The baked cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days though they are best eaten on the day they are baked.
The cookie dough will keep in the fridge for up to 3 days (make sure it is well covered). You can also shape the cookies, freeze them spaced apart on a tray until solid then pop them in a freezer bag or container and freeze for up to three months.
They can be baked right from the freezer but may take a couple of minutes extra to bake.
I don't recommend freezing the baked cookies, but you can freeze them before baking, as above.
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Mincemeat Cookies (vegan)
Ingredients
- 115 g (½ cup) vegan block butter melted
- 75 g (6 Tablespoons) caster or granulated sugar
- 75 g (6 Tablespoons) light brown soft sugar
- 30 g (2 Tablespoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- ¼ teaspoon fine table salt
- 250 g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- 200 g (7 oz) mincemeat
Instructions
- Whisk together the melted butter, caster and light brown soft sugars, milk and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl.115 g (½ cup) vegan block butter, 75 g (6 Tablespoons) caster or granulated sugar, 75 g (6 Tablespoons) light brown soft sugar, 30 g (2 Tablespoons) unsweetened non-dairy milk (I use soy), 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Mix in the bicarbonate of soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves, allspice and salt, followed by the flour.½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda (baking soda), ¼ teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground cloves, ¼ teaspoon ground allspice, ¼ teaspoon fine table salt, 250 g (2 cups) plain (all-purpose) flour
- Finally stir through the mincemeat. Cover the bowl and chill the dough in the fridge for at least an hour, and up to 3 days, until it has firmed up enough to roll into balls.200 g (7 oz) mincemeat
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 180℃/160℃ fan/350℉/gas mark 4. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
- Roll the dough into 12 balls, about 2 Tablespoons each. Flour your hands as needed as it may still be a bit sticky from the mincemeat.
- Place them well spaced apart on the baking sheets then chill them in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking.
- Bake for about 18 minutes, until golden and crisp around the edges, but still soft in the middle.
- Allow to cool on the trays for 10-15 minutes until they have firmed up a bit, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cold store in an airtight container.
Notes
- See post above for tips, details, storage instructions and step-by-step photos.
- As with all of my baking recipes I really do recommend using the metric measurements with a digital scale rather than the cup conversions. Cups are a wildly inaccurate measuring system and you will get far better, more consistent results using a scale, not to mention that it is also easier and less messy than cups!
If you tried this recipe let me know how it went! Rate it, leave a comment or tag @domestic_gothess on Instagram and hashtag it #domesticgothess
Tamar
OMG! So absolutely delicious! It took me back to my Mum's Christmas cake. Thanks for the recipe and the memory. ❤️ Tamar