Over the last couple of weeks I have been asking Porridge fans quite a lot of questions to ready my Christmas Porridge recipe. Thank you to everyone who got in contact with me, your taste buds have been much appreciated!
My seasonal recipe for 2019 was sparked by a certain supermarket who launched a line in ‘Mince Pie Porridge’. At first I thought that this sounded revolting. I don’t have anything against mincemeat, or mince pies it was just the thought of dolloping one on top of winters best, and healthiest, breakfast. However after a quick look around on the internet I started to see lots of healthier versions of mincemeat; sugar free, vegan suitable and low in fat. This started my quest to make a mincemeat that was packed full of fruit and spices but light on free-sugars, and a recipe could be made for vegetarians and vegans.
It was a bit tricky to make a mincemeat with all the flavours of Christmas without all the fat. The recipe I have developed isn’t one you can store, you need to keep it in the fridge and use within a two weeks. However I hope you will enjoy it so much that this won’t be a problem. The ingredients are enough to make two jars so you can give one to a friend for Christmas and get them into the healthy Porridge habit.
So without further ado, here it is my healthier Christmas recipe for Mince Pie Porridge, that is in the spirit of a fun, but lighter festive season….
Makes: two jars
Takes: Mincemeat – 15-20 mins
Porridge – 5-6 mins
Recipe: Mincemeat
150g of grated cooking apples
20g butter or coconut oil
2 organic oranges, juice and peel
20g Xylitol
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
Generous scrape of nutmeg
200g mixed dried fruit
20g of toasted walnut pieces
The Porridge
2 mugs of jumbo oats
1 mug of water, 1 of milk
Pinch of sea salt
Pinch of nutmeg.
- Place the grated apple into a large, deep, saucepan.
- Add the butter, or coconut oil for the vegan option, and gently warm.
- Add the orange juice and peel and heat the mixture gently for 5 minutes. As you are using the peel from the fruit it is important to use unwaxed, organic oranges, as you don’t want to eat any coating sprayed onto the fruit.
- Add the sweetener; I made my recipe using the low GI, natural sweetener Xylitol. You can substitute this for your sweetner of choice.
- Then add the spices and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- Finally fold the walnuts and dried fruit through the mix and gently warm. I used a mixture of currants, sultanas, raisins and a good scattering of dried cranberries.
- Once the apple has melted, and all the ingredients are well mixed, set the saucepan aside to cool.
- Once cold take two clean jam jars, spoon the mix into the jar and refrigerate overnight.
- In the morning take out your Porridge pot, place the oats, water and milk into the saucepan and cook over a high heat for 3 minutes.
- Reduce the heat and add the salt and nutmeg (although the spice is optional if you are not a fan) and cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until you have a nice creamy consistency.
- Poor the hot Porridge into two bowls and swirl a in a generous tablespoon of mincemeat.
- Finally garnish with extra spices, if like me you can’t get enough cinnamon and nutmeg into the festive season!
Wishing you a very Happy Christmas and a healthy new year ahead.
