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Fancy the flavour of mince pies without all the work of rolling pastry? Mincemeat Oat Squares are an easy to make, crumble-topped traybake with a mincemeat filling perfect for Christmas and the holidays.
A recipe from my late Mom’s recipe box, the smell of this delicious traybake cooking always reminds me of my childhood. When I was growing up in Canada we used to refer to a traybake as “squares” because most traybakes are cut into square shaped pieces before serving.
Perfect for Christmas, this recipe is quick and easy to make and full of all the flavours of Christmas. It is particularly nice made with homemade mincemeat. That said, if you do find you have a jar of mincemeat approaching its use by date, these Mincemeat Oat Squares are delicious any time of year.
I like to think of this recipe as an amalgamation of Canadian and British traditions. A British Christmas doesn’t typically involve the cookies and squares (also referred to as bar cookies) we so enjoy in Canada and the US. It’s more about Christmas Pudding, Christmas Cake and Mince Pies over here. However this recipe combines a traditional British ingredient – mincemeat – with a delicious North American Christmas dessert – squares/bar cookies. It’s a very satisfying combination!
Recipe Update
When I went to make the recipe this year (2026), I decided to add a little bit more mincemeat filling than Mom and I used to. It was a very successful experiment. The Mincemeat Oat Squares were even more delicious, and everyone who tasted them at our recent photo shoot just raved about them.
I also made the recipe in an 8 inch (20 cm) pan. The reason for this was very practical – I could not find the 7 inch (18 cm) pan I normally use. Honestly, I think I will do this from now on as loose-bottomed seven inch square pans are hard to find, so I have updated the recipe below.
What is Mincemeat?
Mincemeat is a very traditional ingredient here in the UK. Today it is a mixture of dried fruit, sugar, candied peel, spices and sometimes animal or vegetarian suet all cooked together. Sometimes brandy or rum is added for flavour. Mincemeat may contain nuts as well. Despite its name, mincemeat doesn’t actually contain any meat. You can read more about it here.
You can use store bought mincemeat, but I do have an extremely delicious homemade Suet-Free Mincemeat recipe, that I highly recommend. It’s well worth the effort, and I actually used mincemeat I made in December 2025 to make my latest batch of this recipe in October 2026. I stored my mincemeat in sterilised jars in a very cool place and it tasted even more delicious than when I first made it. (New photos coming soon!)
Mincemeat is used for ‘mince pies’ little sweet pastry tarts served as a snack or as part of dessert that I grew up knowing as mince tarts. I also use it in my Easy Mincemeat and Brandy Cake and lots of other holiday recipes, including this one.
Top Tips for Making Mincemeat Oat Squares
This is one of those recipes where you really need to follow the instructions exactly.
Don’t skip the step of refrigerating the crumble mixture, or chilling the bottom layer of the crumble mixture in the pan before baking. Chilling the pan in the freezer makes it easier to spread the boozy mincemeat over the bottom crust.
Use a loose bottomed pan if you have one. It makes it much easier to cut, serve and store the squares.
Use ordinary oats, never the instant variety or steel cut oats. I like to use Jordans Organic Oats, the chunky traditional kind.
It is important to use good-quality mincemeat for best results. I prefer to use homemade mincemeat.
Mincemeat Oat Squares must be cold before they are cut. Cool completely at room temperature and then chill in the fridge before cutting.
Use a sharp knife. You may want to wipe the knife between cuts. I cut the whole traybake into squares at the same time. I then return the pan to the refrigerator or store the squares in a sealed container.
Store leftover squares in a sealed container in the refrigerator. They will keep for 3 to 4 days.
Serving Mincemeat Oat Squares
My Mom’s Mincemeat Oat Squares give the flavour of mince pies without all the work of rolling pastry and the crumble topping really is scrumptious. They are delicious served as part of a cookie tray or just on their own with a nice hot cup of tea or coffee. They also taste delicious with a little scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I hope you enjoy this treasured family recipe as much as my family, friends and I do!
Mincemeat Oat Squares – Printable Recipe
Mincemeat Oat Squares
Ingredients
- ¾ cup rolled oats not instant oats
- ¾ cup all purpose (plain) flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda also known as bicarbonate of soda or 'bicarb'
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup cold butter, cut in small cubes
- 1¾ cups mincemeat
- 2 tablespoon rum, brandy, Cointreau or Grand Mariner If you need an alcohol free option, you can substitute orange juice here.
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F or about 170°C (160°C for fan ovens).
- Grease the bottom and sides of a 7 or 8-inch pan with butter. Line the bottom with baking parchment and then grease the parchment as well. A pan with a loose bottom makes the squares easier to cut and serve.
- Put the mincemeat in a small bowl and stir in the rum, brandy, Cointreau or Grand Mariner. Set aside.
- Combine the flour with the butter in a medium bowl and cut the butter into the flour until mixture resembles fine crumbs. You can use a food processor for this or do it by hand with an old-fashioned pastry blender.
- Add the oats, baking soda, salt and sugar to the butter and flour mixture and mix thoroughly.
- Press half of this mixture into the prepared pan.
- Put the pan in the freezer and put the remaining oat mixture in the fridge. Chilling the pan in the freezer makes it easier to spread the boozy mincemeat over the bottom crust.
- After 15 minutes, remove the square pan from the freezer and the remaining oat mixture from the fridge.
- Carefully spread the boozy mincemeat over the top of the oat mixture in the square pan.
- Gently sprinkle the remaining oat mixture evenly over top of the mincemeat. It does not cover the mincemeat completely, there are a few gaps.
- Bake in the oven for about 25 to 30 minutes or until the squares are lightly golden brown. Be sure to keep an eye on the pan in the last minutes of baking so the Mincemeat Oat Squares do not burn.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely at room temperature., then place the traybake in the fridge for at least an hour before cutting. I often leave them overnight.
- Leftovers will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for several days.
did you make this recipe?
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More Delicious Squares and Cookies
Aunt Dorothy’s Butterscotch Squares
Aunt Irene’s Christmas Squares
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I’ve never been a huge fan of mince pies, but the substitution of oats for pastry is really appealing. I’ll be sharing this!
Thank you so much, Pauline!
Hi April,
I am going to make these bars hopefully before Christmas, they just look amazing! Thanks so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and enjoy your weekend!
Miz Helen
I hope you enjoy them, Miz Helen! They really are delicious 🙂
About to try to make these why is amounts only in American cups please can it be in metric as well .
I’m so sorry, Jess, I have only ever made this recipe in cups (my late Mom was Canadian and it’s her recipe). I really don’t know the metric measurements for it. I bake in both metric and imperial measurements depending on the recipe but tend to fall back on cups in most cases as I’m originally from Canada. I’m not sure where you are based but cup measures are a lot more widely available internationally now. In England they are available in most grocery stores and also online. I’m sorry not to be able to be more helpful.
Volume equivalents online everywhere. A more precise recipe would use mass, but baking is often done by feel; a little more if this or that.
Do you think this recipe would work if I used gluten free flour, such as Bob’s Red Mill “1 to 1” GF baking flour? I would use gluten free oats.
I would hope that it would, Kay. I like Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 very much, although I’ve never experimented with it in this recipe. I always use gluten free oats, but I’ve never tried this recipe with gluten free flour. If you do try it, please let me know what you think. I am pretty sure it would work well. Merry Christmas!
This was delicious, but I have to say, the squares did not hold together. They just crumbled. I followed the directions to the letter. After I made this, I found an old family recipe that had been handed down. I thought I had lost it, so that’s why I tried this one. That old recipe called for 1/2 cup of Crisco (which I never use anymore), double the flour, quick cooking oats, more mincemeat, and more baking soda. I’m wondering if I would have had more success with that. At over $8 a jar for mincemeat at the grocery store, on sale, I’m reluctant of give this another try. Maybe next yr. For grins, I made a gluten free version for my family using Bob’s Red Mill GF 1 to 1 flour and GF oats. That was an epic fail, which I anticipated. Just crumbs. Tasted good though!
Oh Kay, I’m so sorry it didn’t work for you. It has always worked for me, and for other members of my family, but of course there are differences in flour sometimes or just the circumstances. Did you keep refrigerate them before cutting? That is the only thing I can think of, and it is vital. But if you did refrigerate them, I honestly don’t know what happened. I’m comforted that the crumbs tasted good, but I’m truly sorry you didn’t have a good experience. Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!
The squares are very rich in flavor. I do think the flour/oatmeal ratio to butter is not adequate. The squares are much to fragile. The recipe says to bring to room temperature before serving. The squares fell apart much too easily. 1 1/2c of dry product to 1 cup of butter just doesn’t work. I may try again adding flour and oats.
I’m sorry you struggled with the recipe, Jeanne. We have always eaten them cold from the fridge with no issues, but of course, humidity, fridge temperature etc can all vary, especially as we all live in different places around the world. The recipe is meant to be rich and to be cut in very small squares, however you should definitely alter any recipe to suit your requirements. As this is a treasured family recipe passed down for 4 generations, I won’t be altering it myself. My family and friends would complain as it’s a real part of our holiday traditions. I’m interested in what temperatures or humidity levels you might have where you live – are you based in North America? I first had the recipe in Ontario, Canada when my late Mom made it and as you probably know I’m based in the South of England. Do let me know how you get on. Best wishes 🙂
The best recipe for mincemeat bars I’ve used. Amazing!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Michelle! It means a lot to me when people are pleased with my recipes – and especially in this case as this is one of my late Mom’s recipes. Thank you for letting me know. Wishing you and yours a happy, healthy New Year!
A jar of mincemeat is typically 29oz, 2 3/4 cups. So if you double your recipe and use a 9×13 pan it should work for the whole jar. Might have to add a bit more sugar and flour and oatmeal and butter once doubled to get enough. You need enough oats to soak up the juices.
None Such does list beef as an ingredient. I’m glad to see oats among your ingredients.
I have just looked up the None Such mincemeat Jim and beef is definitely in the ingredients as you said. Here in the UK, recipes generally call for suet, which is shredded beef fat, however there is no actual minced beef in the recipe. As you can now buy vegetarian suet, it is even possible to make or buy vegetarian mincemeat.
Back in the Middle Ages, mincemeat definitely contained beef or mutton along with the dried fruits. Mincemeat was served in large pies, not unlike the meat pies we enjoy today. The dried fruits and spices were good at hiding meat that was a little past its best.
Another thing that adds to the confusion is that here in the UK, we refer to ground beef simply as ‘mince’ (It’s short for minced beef, but it’s rare to hear anyone say ‘minced beef’. They just order a pound (or 454 grams) of “mince”. This would make definitely one would think that ‘mincemeat’ contained mince, even though it usually doesn’t. I find language fascinating!!
Thank you so much for your comment. I like the oats in this recipe too. It’s a nice change from traditional pastry, although I confess I enjoy mince tarts as well. Wishing you and yours a very Happy Holiday season.
I will have to give this a try as it’s so up my alley and sounds awesome
I visited you via Full Plate Thursday, 672
I linked up this week with = 36+37. I hope you will join us M-S SeniorSalonPitStop and W-S #WordlessWednesday. You will find both under BLOGGING.
Thank you so much, Esme! I’m so glad you found me through Miz Helen – what a lovely lady she is! Will pop over and visit as soon as I can. I hope you are having a wonderful holiday season.
Very good. Used my home canned mince meat and substituted some sweet cherry juice and lemon as I had no orange juice. Followed your instructions on refrigeration and freezing. Everything turned out well. Good recipe.
Thank you for letting me know, Anita! I’m so glad you liked the recipe. Home canned mince meat is wonderful; it would make the recipe extra special.