I was getting ready for an afternoon of making mince
pies. As I made the rich shortcrust, I
imagined them topped with pastry stars and hearts. I imagined them warm and sticky from the
oven. I also imagined rolling pastry,
cutting out circles, stars, hearts, preparing pans, lining umpteen tartlet
cases, filling them, topping them, baking them, and repeating the process until
I either a) ran out of fruit mince, or b) started screaming uncontrollably.
I mentioned my afternoon's
plans on Facebook, and my old friend Anita replied with, "Mince pies made like pinwheels, a
variation I plan on trying this year…"
Zing! Novel idea,
and suddenly the afternoon looked a lot let arduous. I'll
make half as pinwheels, half as pies, I said.
Easy. I rolled out half the
pastry, spread with fruit mince, rolled it up, cut, and baked. Then I stood in the middle of the kitchen
blinking, a bit dazed, because it had all gone by so fast. I blinked a few more times, forgot the pies,
and made more pinwheels. Total time
spent: 1 hour, which includes making the
pastry from scratch. Anita rocks.
And sure: mince
pinwheels are not as pretty as mince pies topped with stars and hearts, but
they're still plenty pretty,
and delicious either cold with a glaze, or warm with brandy butter. Pluds there's
the added fun that Jane Grigson identified as an essential part of the
enjoyment of a Chelsea bun: uncoiling
them as you eat them.
No screaming whatsoever.
I guess I rock, too.
FRUIT MINCE PINWHEELS
You can use bought shortcrust pastry if you like, but go
on, it's Christmas! Blow it out a bit and make your own. This rich shortcrust is so much better than
anything you can buy. Mince pies and
pinwheels are great keepers and will reheat beautifully if you want to make
them ahead.
(Makes 60 approx.)
Ingredients:
800g. pastry flour
375g. butter
6 tbsp. sugar
2 egg yolks
Iced water, as needed
850g. best-quality fruit mince (I use a vegetarian, ie.
suet-free, one from the wholefoods market)
To serve: sugar
glaze (if serving cold) or brandy butter or custard (if serving warm)
What you do:
1. Rub butter into
flour until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
You can use a large bowl, but I do this in batches in the food
processor. Mix in sugar. Add egg yolks and enough iced water to bring
mixture together. Gather it up into a
ball, wrap in cling film, and chill for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to
180oC. Line two large baking sheets with
silicon paper. Divide pastry in
four. Roll each one into a neat
rectangle roughly 30x25cm. (Don't worry about the size too
much. Important thing is to have neat edges and not have the pastry either too thick or too thin.) Spread with a quarter
of the fruit mince, leaving a little gap all around. Roll up, and pinch edges to seal. Cut into 2cm slices with a sharp serrated knife. Repeat with remaining pastry and fruit
mince.
3. Arrange
pinwheels, cut side down, on baking sheets.
Bake 20-25 minutes, until pastry is golden and filling is sticky and
bubbling. Lift silicon paper straight
onto racks to cool. Allow to cool to
warm if serving warm, or cool completely before glazing.
Yumbo McGillicutty! |
Brilliant! You need to see that your friend on facebook gets a batch of those! They're on my list to make now. Thanks for sharing your inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI haven't made mince pies in years - like these zingy pinwheels... I also like to play with my food and slowly unroll them...
ReplyDeleteHope you make them. These have been so popular, I've had to hide Batch #2 in the back of the freezer!
ReplyDelete