Substitutes for mince pie recipe?

[EvilMama]

I've a recipe which calls for 6 mince pies to be chopped and added to the mixture. I can't get hold of mince pies where I live, but I do have a couple of jars of mincemeat. I can't be bothered to bake twice - make mince pies and then chop them - mainly because my mini mince pies always fail!

How much mince is equivalent to 6 mince pies? È.g. 6 tablespoons spoons or more like 6 teaspoons?
Would crushing a couple of biscuits into the mix compensate for the pastry of a mince pies? Which would you take, how many? I know some people use sweet pastry, some unsweetened pastry for pies...

Need some advice with someone more experienced in Christmas baking than me. DH is going to be horrified so it needs to be good! DC are going to love it 😁

The mincemeat in mince pies is already cooked, so adding it uncooked to the recipe might change the viscosity and texture of the bake.
Shop mince pies are really badly filled these days, and the sweet shortcrust pastry does tend toward biscuity.
I reckon 8 rich tea biscuits and 6 teaspoons of mincemeat would approximate 6 mince pies in a bake, but you'll get a better texture putting the biscuity mincemeat mixture in the microwave for 1 minute and letting it cool before adding it.

What are you making? Mince pie ice cream?

Good point about cooked vs uncooked mincemeat. The suet melts into the mincemeat on baking and uncooked mincemeat has little pieces of suet that would be unpalatable if eaten uncooked. I'm also guessing that this is mince pie ice cream but you could overcome the suet problem by microwaving and stirring the melted suet in.

As for quantities, I'd say you need a heaped teaspoon/half a tablespoon of mince per 'pie equivalent' but if it is mince pie ice cream, the exact quantity really doesn't matter. Just put in the amount that looks right to you - enough so you know it's there, but not too much that it doesn't bind together properly.

Crushed biscuits would be fine as a pastry substitute and again, just put in what looks right, it doesn't need to be exact.

No, not ice cream. Cheesecake
I hadn't thought about the cooked vs uncooked suet, do you reckon as it's a baked cheesecake it's ok, or I should still blast it in the microwave first?

I'd still blast it, suet needs to get pretty hot to stop being gritty and baked cheesecake is usually cooked low to not boil the cheese.