it's getting very close.........

this year there will be no getting down my Christmas boxes and stringing up

my crocheted Christmas garland........

there will be no hanging an ENORMOUS amount of decorations on our Christmas tree......

there won't even be the traditional advent calendar that my sister made 

and which we have used since evie was a toddler.......

{the kids are a little sad about that...... 

but never fear, mummy has thought ahead and there are exciting things 

waiting for them in old blighty

with which they can celebrate each day of the advent season.....}

but there most certainly WILL be some mincemeat crumbles.....

now I don't have a photo to share with you of this delectable treat but let me assure you 

that it is VERY fab and makes a rather yummy change from the 

traditional mince pie at Christmas......

so let me get on with the recipe and you could make some of this yumminess yourself 

with which to celebrate this soon-to-be Christmassy season.....

Mincemeat Crumbles

5oz butter at room temperature

3oz caster sugar

5oz plain flour

3oz cornflour

* Cream butter and sugar together

* Sift in the flour and the cornflour

* Bring the dough to a ball

* Press the dough into a baking tin and chill for 20 mins {I use a 20cm square tin for this but you could probably go a little bigger}

* Preheat the oven to 200 degrees {if you have a fan forced oven I would go a little lower than this} and bake for 12-15 mins

Cool a little then spoon 1lb of {fruit} mincemeat on top

Now for the topping:

3 1/2oz plain flour

3oz butter

2oz demarera sugar {I use raw sugar here}

* Whizz the ingredients in a food processor until they look like breadcrumbs

* Sprinkle a tablespoon of water over the mixture and fork it until it makes uneven lumps

* Scatter over the base and bake for a further 20 mins

cool, slice into small {or large.....} squares and enjoy!

**sorry about the mix of imperial and metric measurements in this recipe..... I have the recipe written down with imperial measurements but it's easy enough to convert the weights if you need to {my fancy scales do it all for me......}**