Mincemeat:

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together.

Put small batches of mixture in food processor and lightly pulse or roughly chop. Remove to storage container.

Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.

To make the mince pies:

Pie Dough:

In a food processor, add flour, sugar, and salt and pulse several times. Add butter and pulse until size of peas. In a small bowl, mix egg, cider vinegar and water and whisk well. Add mixture to flour and pulse until dough almost forms a ball. Remove and flatten into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.

On a well floured surface, roll half of dough out and cut a circle to fit in a mince pie pan. Add 1 tablespoon of the mincemeat mixture to each tart. Fill the tart with mincemeat just until filling reaches the top of the tart. Don’t overfill. Roll out more dough and with star shaped biscuit cutter or round cutter to fit the size of your tart pan, cut the tops out. With a pastry brush dipped in water lightly brush each tip of star and place on tart. Lightly press top onto the tart. If you are placing a circle on top of the tarts, take a sharp knife and make a 2 ½ -inch cut in center of tart and 1 inch cuts on either side.

Place in 400 degree oven and bake for 15 minutes. Turn oven down to 350 degrees and cook for another 12-15 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle tops with sugar. Remove to a cooling rack and when completely cool, place in airtight container.

To make the hard sauce:

In a mixing bowl, add butter and mix until softened. Add remaining ingredients and whip until light and fluffy about 2 minutes. Taste for vanilla and salt and add more if needed. The consistency should be like butter cream so add more half and half or powdered sugar for desired consistency. Place in serving dish. Hard sauce can be made several days ahead and refrigerated. Allow to come to room temperature before serving.