If like me you enjoy a bit of home baking at Christmas, what do you do with any left over jars of sweet mince?

Here’s an idea. Sweet mince muffins.

I stopped buying dried fruit, as I could only find it on sale in single use, unrecyclable plastic wrap. The alternative I have turned to is jars of sweet mince which I substitute for dried fruit. The results I think are very pleasing, the resultant cake being moist and tasty.

Here is the recipe I use to make 12 generous muffins:

280 g self raising flour

2 tspn almond extract (Nielson Massey sell theirs in little glass bottle with a metal screw top)

100g sugar (I have the good fortune that in Darlington We have a refill shop that sell brown sugar you can buy in your own container)

Pinch salt

2 medium eggs, beaten

100 ml tinned light Carnation or other evaporated milk, or just ordinary full fat milk)

6 tabspn sunflower oil (thanks to the refill shop again)

Small jar of sweet mince

Optional Handful of chopped almonds (refill shop again)

Method:

1. Stir all the dry ingredients in a large bowl to combine.

2. Beat the eggs with the almond essence, milk, and oil.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and gently stir to combine.

4. Pour into a muffin cake tin that has been well greased with butter.

5. Bake in the centre if the oven at 180 degrees centigrade for about 20 minutes, at which point, check for firmness and if not yet springy to the touch bake a little longer.

Keep half for eating now, and the others (after they have been allowed to cool completely) can be wrapped and stored in the freezer for future use.