These Mincemeat Shortbread Bars are just as tasty as Mince Pies, but a cinch to make! Buttery shortbread and sweet mincemeat baked together until golden. Simple, yet divine!
Hiya guys, hope you’re all well. Ready for Christmas? I bought my last present yesterday, but I haven’t wrapped a single present yet! That’s happening this weekend!
Today, I’m sharing these Mincemeat Shortbread Bars with you as an alternative to the traditional Mince Pie. I love a mince pie, but sometimes I fancy a change… and sometimes I can’t be bothered to make pastry haha!!
I’ve married together buttery shortbread, shop bought mincemeat and baked until golden. These are SO easy to make and taste out of this world good!
Before we talk about these Mincemeat Shortbread Bars anymore though… Let’s talk about our Christmas nightmare the other night!
We have had real Christmas trees for as long as I can remember. When I moved out of my parent’s 10 years ago, I carried on the tradition with my now husband. Never had a problem with them… until this year.
We trimmed the trunk as you’re meant to, left it outside in a bucket overnight, inspected it, gave it a good shake. We’d been watering it every day, but it was dropping needles fast. It’s a Nordmann Fir so they don’t normally drop that many needles.
On Tuesday night my husband was watering the tree and I was hoovering, he calls me over and shows me these bugs that are all over the floor. I hate bugs, insects, flying things, so I was immediately grossed out. We hoovered them up, but both felt itchy and couldn’t settle.
I did some Googling, then we started investigating the tree further and found it was infested with bugs. Both walking on it and unhatched. After we’d finished investigating for bugs, it had lost so many needles it was bald. Still, we tried leaving it. We both sat on the sofa and could not settle knowing there were loads of bugs on the tree and that they’d probably be all over the house soon.
SO, at 20:15, we decide to evict the tree. Husband has to go and retrieve the decoration box from the garage. By this time is peeing down, so he comes back soaking wet. We glove up and remove all the decoration, then think that rather than drag the tree through the house and possibly fling bugs everywhere, we’ll take it out the front and round the side of the house…
I’m like “great! It’s dark, so none of our new neighbours will see and think we’re mad!” We stuff the tree down the side of the house and come back inside to clean up. I had to hoover everything from top to bottom just in case.
OH BOY. WRONG CHOICE!
Fast forward to the morning and we look outside and realise that no, we have not got away with whisking the tree out unseen as there’s needles stuck to our metal fencing, all the way round the side and back of my car… all the way to our side gate!
Also, after we evicted the tree my husband managed to skin his arm on the bin (of all things!!) and he came in swearing with blood dripping down his arm. I was half laughing hysterically, half having a breakdown while cleaning and dressing his wound. WHAT A NIGHT.
However, disaster was averted after I spent an entire day trying to hunt down a realistic artificial tree that wasn’t £1000. B&Q came to the rescue and we managed to snag what felt like the last tree in the South of England! The 6ft was literally out of stock everywhere, but there was one 7ft 6in tree in our local store.
It’s up and fluffed up, but we need to decorate it again tonight. It came prelit thank goodness and it’s HUGE. Hahahaha way bigger than we thought, but I love it. I have to admit, I am really impressed with how realistic it looks! Christmas disaster averted!
Now, let’s talk about how you make these Mincemeat Shortbread Bars…
They couldn’t be easier to make! Whip up a quick shortbread recipe, bake 3/4 of the mixture into an 8×8 inch square pan until it’s just set on the top. Then spread 12oz of mincemeat onto the shortbread.
Take the remaining shortbread mixture and crumble it on top of the mincemeat, then put it back in the oven to bake until golden and the mincemeat is bubbling.
Let the Mincemeat Shortbread Bars cool completely in the pan before transferring to a cutting board to slice into 9-12 bars. Simple, but so tasty and perfect for Christmas!
Some other mincemeat recipes you might like:
Mincemeat Shortbread Bars
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup (66g) light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (66g) caster sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground allspice
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 2 1/4 cups (315g) plain/all-purpose flour
- 12 oz (340g) mincemeat of your choice, I used Sainsbury's
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 160C/325F and spray an 8×8 inch square pan with cooking spray. Cut two strips of grease proof paper, long enough to go across the pan and have hangover on the edge to lift out the bars. Place one strip across the pan, side to side, and the other across the other way, top to bottom.
- Place the butter and sugars into a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Around 2 minutes on medium-high speed.
- Scrape down the sides as necessary and add the allspice, salt, cornflour and flour. Mix on low speed until the mixture starts to come together, then turn the speed up to medium and mix until one lump of dough forms and comes away from the sides.
- Place 3/4 of the shortbread mixture into your prepared pan and press into an even layer. I use the bottom of a measuring cup sprayed with cooking spray. Once spread, place in the oven for 12-15 minutes, until it's puffed up and is just set around the edges.
- Gently spread the mincemeat over the shortbread, if your mincemeat is stiff, place in a small bowl and then microwave for 30 seconds to soften.
- Once you've spread the mincemeat, take the remaining shortbread dough and crumble it over the mincemeat. It's totally fine if the mincemeat isn't completely covered. In fact, it makes them look better to have bits of mincemeat peeking through.
- Place in the oven for 27-32 minutes, until the top is lightly golden and the mincemeat is bubbling.
- Leave the bars to cool completely in the pan and then gently lift and transfer to a cutting board. Slice into 9-12 bars and dig in.
- Mincemeat Shortbread Bars will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 4 days.
Annie is a self-taught baker, recipe developer and food photographer, who has an obsession with dessert and beauty! 
