These Hairy Bikers mincemeat and marzipan twists sandwich mincemeat and grated marzipan between two halves of puff pastry, then cut and twist it. From one 320g pack, the Brilliant Bakes recipe makes about 28, and I’d estimate 80 minutes plus cooling and 100 calories a twist.
They pitch them as “a fun twist on the traditional mince pies to serve at a Christmas party”. But unlike mince pies, there’s no round cutter or bun tin, because the mincemeat is spread right to the edges of a flat sheet.
They insist on chilling the filled pastry for at least half an hour, so it firms up before you cut and twist it. But they’re relaxed about the rest, since “even if you have to do a bit of patching here and there, they’ll still taste great”.
Hairy Bikers Mincemeat and Marzipan Twists
Description
One half of the ready-rolled puff is spread with mincemeat, scattered with grated marzipan and cinnamon, then topped and pressed with a rolling pin. After chilling it’s cut into thin strips, twisted, glazed and baked crisp, then dusted with icing sugar, plus cinnamon if you like.
Ingredients
For the twists
For the topping
Instructions
- Spread the mincemeat: Unroll the puff pastry and carefully cut it in half. Then put one piece on a sheet of floured baking parchment and spread the mincemeat evenly, right to the edges.
- Add the marzipan: Coarsely grate the marzipan over the mincemeat, and though it looks like a lot, it will press down considerably. Then sprinkle over the ½ tsp of cinnamon.
- Sandwich and chill: Carefully lay the other piece of pastry on top, dust with flour and roll over it very gently but firmly with a rolling pin. Then chill it for at least half an hour so the pastry firms up.
- Heat the oven: Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4 and line 2 baking trays with baking parchment.
- Cut and twist: Cut the pastry in half lengthways, ideally with a pizza wheel, then into strips 1 to 1.5cm thick, about 28 in all. Then twist each strip by holding both ends and turning your hands in opposite directions.
- Bake: Arrange them on the trays, brush with beaten egg and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and crisp. Then leave them to cool.
- Dust: Mix the icing sugar with the cinnamon, if using, and dust the twists liberally.
FAQs
Can you make them ahead?
Yes, they say the twists keep for a few days in an airtight container. And if you want to warm them through before serving, they say to leave the icing sugar off until after reheating.
They don’t cover freezing, so I’d stick to baking them a day or two before the party. Then a few minutes in a warm oven and a fresh dusting should bring them back, which is my suggestion rather than theirs.
Can you use homemade mincemeat?
Yes, the recipe points to their own Brilliant Bakes mincemeat, though shop-bought is listed as fine too. But it needs at least 2 weeks to mature, preferably a month, and 4 heaped tablespoons is only a small part of that three-jar batch.
With the rest, their British Classics mincemeat lattice tart takes 500g over a 200g disc of marzipan. So one batch of mincemeat and 400g of marzipan in total would cover both bakes.
How do you make the marzipan?
In Brilliant Bakes, 200g of ground almonds are blitzed with 85g of icing sugar, almond extract and 2 to 3 teaspoons of egg white. Then stop once it clumps into a dough when squeezed, since over-processing makes the almond oil separate and the marzipan look greasy.
They keep it wrapped in the fridge, and if it dries out, a damp tea towel over it brings it back. By my sums that makes about 290g, so roughly 90g will be left over for something else.
Is there a Hairy Bikers mincemeat pinwheel?
Not that I could find, because the pinwheels in Mums Still Know Best are minced beef pinwheels, a savoury bake that makes 12. And those roll beef, herbs and tomato purée up in puff pastry like a Swiss roll, then slice it into rounds.
These twists use the same bought puff pastry but are twisted into sticks rather than rolled into spirals. So they aren’t true pinwheels, though they’re the closest sweet mincemeat bake of theirs I’ve found.
How are they different from mince pies?
They use bought puff pastry instead of shortcrust, with no cutting out or filling of tins. And one pack makes around 28, against 12 for their orange and cranberry mince pies from Perfect Pies.
If you like almond with your mincemeat, their frangipane mince pies top it with an almond sponge instead. But I’d say the twists are the least fiddly of the three, since there’s no pastry to make or tins to line.
