For me there is a few foods that make me instantly think Christmas! One being Mincemeat, one of my husbands favourite Christmas treats is a homemade Mincemeat pie with a spoon of quality vanilla ice cream.
Another favourite in our household is Festive buns, A chelsea style sticky bun but with Mincemeat and a festive feeling.
This is my take on the Good Food Recipe
What you need
260ml Whole Milk
60g Butter, cubed
460g Plain flour preferably strong, plus some for dusting
60g Golden caster sugar
7g Sachet of yeast - fast action
2 tsp Ground cinnamon
2 tsp Mixed spice
2 Medium eggs, beaten
Oil for greasing
For the filling
60g Butter Softened
35g Golden Caster sugar
400g Mincemeat
100g Glacier Cherries Chopped
50g Chopped Hazelnuts
a sprinkle of Orange and lemon peel
For the topping
3 tsp Demerara sugar to sprinkle
4 tsp Apricot Jam
130g Icing sugar
Method
1) Heat the milk in a saucepan until it is steaming, carefully remove from the heat adding in the butter, leave to cool and ensure that the butter has melted.
Add in the flour, sugar, yeast, spices into a bowl and mix it all together. Making a well with the mixture, pour in the egg and milk mixture. Mix it all together to form a dough, then tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes or until its smooth. Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl cover and leave it to rise for 1-2 hours this depends how warm the room is.
2) Heat the oven to 220C/200C fan/ Gas 6.
Knead the dough onto a lightly floured surface, Roll out to approx 50x45cm Rectangle. Make sure the longest edge is facing you. Mix the butter and sugar for the filling, spread all over the dough. Then put then put the mincemeat and cherries on the dough. Roll up firmly starting from one of the long sides and slowly roll. Using a knife to neaten, then slice into around 9 (maybe 10 if your lucky) pieces.
Arrange onto an oiled tray, make sure you leave a little room between each one and make sure the tail ends are pointing inwards. Cover loosely with a cloth to prove until they double in size. Sprinkle over the demerara sugar and bake for around 25-30 mins until golden.
Once they are golden, remove from the tray and place them onto a wire rack to cool. Melt the jam with 1 tbsp water and brush over the buns.
3) Mix the icing sugar with enough water so you are making a runny icing, you can use a spoon to drizzle the icing over the buns. Leave for 15 minutes to set.
If placed into a sealed container they will keep for up to 3 days.
Enjoy!
Kelly X
