These Mince Pie Pinwheels use ready made pastry which means they don’t take long too make, which means you get to eat them more quickly!
My Mince Pie Pinwheels are very easy to make. They make a change from mote traditional style mince pies, which we all know so well and have surely eaten lots of over the years. This version take less time to make and can be whipped up in next to no time. Perfect for any last minute festive gatherings that require some yummy mince pies to offer around.
To be honest, my favourite mince pies are the more traditional ones based, especially ones based on a recipe that my nanny has passed down to me (which you can find here ). However, these pinwheel mince pies are much quicker to make because they use ready made pastry. Perfect for last minute visitors who might pop round, and you need something Christmassy to offer them.
Then you simply roll the pastry into a long sausage and then slice into 12 pieces, and dab some melted butter over them. You don’t even need to dust your work surface with flour, because you can leave the pastry on the greaseproof paper that it is packaged in!
Now I have a little confession, this recipe is not really my own. I adapted it from one that Jamie Oliver created on one of his Christmas TV shows from a couple of years ago. He makes filo pastry encased, shortcrust mincemeat filled swirls and then adds a load of black pepper in one that his mate Gennaro eats (lol!). Anyway, after seeing that recipe it made me think I could make my own version and that is how my Mince Pie Pinwheels were created.
Just roll out the pastry sheet, add some mincemeat and then any extras that you like. I added some grated apple, some sour cherries, some flaked almonds and some grated clementine zest.
However, I could not apply the filo pastry as easily as Jamie did, so I literally line each muffin tin hole with some butter covered filo to make a base, and then add my mincemeat swirls on top so that any leaking mincemeat is captured inside each filo basket.
The mince pie swirls are baked in the oven for 25-20 minutes until they are golden brown, and leave them in their tins to cool before removing them (unless you like them hot of course!)
Then you need to add some snow, and by that I mean icing sugar of course. Plus some holly for decoration. Then the festive Mince Pie Pinwheels are ready to eat. I added some edible silver balls to some just to add some festiveness, but this is optional.
Delicious served alongside a big dollop of clotted cream!
If you have been inspired by these delicious Mince Pie Pinwheels, and you fancy making them yourself then here is how
Mince Pie Pinwheels Recipe
- 2 packets of ready made shortcrust pastry sheets
- 1 packet of filo pastry sheets (you will need 6 sheets)
- 2 jars of good quality mincemeat
- 2 apples
- 1 clementine
- flaked almonds
- 100g sour cherries
- approx 150g butter, melted
- icing sugar for dusting
- Pre heat the oven to 200oC / 180oC (fan)
- Take your filo pastry sheets and butter one side well and then cut each sheet into 4 squares and place each square buttered side down into each muffin tin hole,leave to one side
- Unwrap the shortcrust pastry sheets, and leave them on the greaseproof paper that they were rolled inside
- Spread the mincemeat onto each sheet
- Then sprinkle the fruit, nuts and zest over the top
- Roll the sheets up long ways to make long pastry sausage shapes
- Cut each one into 12 pieces so you end up with 24 all together
- Place each swirl into each muffin tin hole
- Using a pastry brush dab the pinwheels with some more melted butter
- Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes until golden brown and cooked
- once cooled, remove from the tins and dust with icing sugar
- These will freeze.
These look great! I’m not a fan of mince pies however around this time of year I tend to bake more with cranberries and cinnamon as I love that combination! Then again I love food in general and Decembers a great excuse to eat!
I always have a jar of home-made mince meat in the fridge, so I can make mince pies as & when they are needed.
I’m not great at baking but I can make a mean hot chocolate with cream, Carmel sauce, chocolate sprinkles and a mini gingerbread man on the side. Always goes down well with the family. ;0)
Those look so tasty! Great for unexpected visitors. I love to make a cranberry and vanilla steamed pudding instead of a Chrismas pudding, it is a bit lighter and the whole family enjoys it.
for me it’s about the breakfast. the calmness of the three of us before lunchtime mayhem commences. Mr HPMcQ does these amazing things called crumpies, which are a cross between a yorkshire pudding and a crumpet. he then bakes eggs inside bacon in a cup cake mould and puts them on top, DELICIOUS!
Our festive food idea is a craft too! We have a day where we make cut out cookies and decorate them. It’s a whole day affair -we do gingerbread men and sugar cut outs. It’s the one time of the year we go all out with decorating and the girls go crazy. They each get to invite a friend. We make about 200 cookies and give to neighbours and have around all through Christmas.
It’s a very interesting idea. I love mince pies and this pinwheels must be delicious. I might try it.
It’s ever so hard to choose just one thing, but I do like Christmas cake! I make mine ladened with fruit soaked in kahlua and cover it in marzipan and white chocolate. Love your pinwheels and definitely going to try them! Thanks for the competition.
For me it’s the traditional foods we eat every year – the sausagemeat stuffing, the home made bread sauce (nothing like that hideous wallpaper paste stuff from a packet!) & the trifle just like grandma used to make!
Project 365, 2015. Week 50 - Mummy Mishaps
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My daughter and I attempted to make a ginger bread house every year and my other daughter attempts to decorate it. It’s kind of become a tradition with us.
Mulled wine on the hob or in the slow cooker. You can then greet friends with a glass of it and get away with accompanying it with a shop bought mince pie, They will only notice the mulled wine and not the pie 🙂 And as a bonus your house will smell Christmassy too. I always have some on the go as you can just top it up when needed
And if nobody turns up,well you are still sorted.
Cheers
PS your pinwheels look lush. Do you deliver?
Christmas is all about the food! Mine & Jacob’s contribution to the family feast is always mince pies (and this hamper would win us massive brownie points lol) but I love all of it. We have a family Boxing Day tea tradition of cheese fondue which goes down a storm!
It’s got to be Christmas dinner for me – goose or duck with braised red cabbage and potato dumplings. Heaven! And, of course Stollen and vanilla crescents…
we love Christmas morning when we always eat warm croissants with bacon & cheese in – accompanied by bucks fizz, of course!
These look so good, lovely pics too, makes me want to cook! We always look forward to making boxing day pasties, you just need shortcrust pastry and leftovers, including some gravy. The whole family joins in with making one and then cutting out a pastry letter or shape to decorate them!
They look scrumptious! Our entire Christmas Day evolves around food but my best idea ha to be a recipe I made recently using panettone, it’s a white chocolate mousse with panettone croutons and a cranberry and orange coulis. Like a posh trifle
Anything with mincemeat in, these sound gorgeous! I love mince pies, mincemeat tart, anything like that with a large dollop of cream
I love to use up leftovers. Some of my favourite foods are Christmas leftovers – turkey broth, turkey and ham pie, Christmas pudding ice cream, pannatone bread pudding…
our favourite is mincemeat ice cream, soften a litre of ice cream, stir through a jar of mincemeat until well combined and refreeze until required