It wouldn’t be Christmas without mince pies A luxurious twist on the classic mince pie, made with a sweet pastry casing, filled with delicious mincemeat and topped with a lovely, buttery viennese biscuit whirl. Once you’ve tried them, you won’t look back!
Ingredients:
Sweet Pastry:
250g/8.8oz Plain Flour
125g/4.4oz Butter, cold
50g/1.76oz Caster Sugar
1 Tsp Orange Zest
2 Egg Yolks
3 Tbls Milk, cold
Viennese Paste:
225g/8oz Plain Flour
250g/8.8oz Butter, softened (see note)
50g/1.76oz Icing Sugar
2 Tbls Cornflour/Cornstarch
1/2 Tsp Vanilla Essence
Filling:
1 Jar 400g/14oz Mincemeat
1 Small Apple, finely diced
Icing Sugar for dusting
Method:
Sweet Pastry –
Add the flour, caster sugar and butter in a bowl of a stand mixer, and bring to crumbs. Add the orange zest and just mix through. Mix the egg yolks and milk together. On low speed, with the mixer going add to pastry crumbs and mix until the dough forms. Cover in clingfilm and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
On a floured work surface, roll out the dough quite thin and cut out discs to fit the size of your bun tin.
Viennese Paste –
In a medium bowl, whisk and cream the butter. Sift in the flour, icing sugar and cornflour and add the vanilla essence. Mix to create a soft paste. Transfer the paste to a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle.
Viennese Mince Pies –
Pre-heat oven to 200C/400F.
Grease a 12-hole cupcake bun tin with a little butter.
In a bowl, mix the mincemeat and finely diced apples together.
Gently press cut pastry discs into the bun tin and fill each one with a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat.
Pipe the viennese paste on top, starting from outer edge to center making a swirl on top.
Place the tray of mince pies in the fridge for 30 minutes until the topping is firm, (this helps the swirls hold their shape in the oven).
Bake in preheated oven for 20-30 minutes until a light golden colour on top. Allow to cool in tray for approximately 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Dust with icing sugar before serving. Devour as they are or with a dallop of cream on top. Enjoy!
NOTE: The butter for the viennese whirl topping needs to be very soft, so take it out of the fridge the night before baking.
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