Posted in Recipes on 27.11.2019
Viennese Whirl Mince Pies
prep: 30 mins / cook: 20 mins / inactive: 30 mins / total: 1 hour 20 mins / quantity: 15-18 mince pies Print recipe?
Filled with sticky homemade mincemeat, these rich, buttery vegan Viennese Whirl Mince Pies will soon become a real Christmas recipe favourite!
Seriously, what’s not to love about a Viennese Whirl Mince Pie?! I’m a bona-fide lover of all things generally Christmas anyway. It starts about October when the first mince pies start appearing in the shops. And I’ll be honest, before being vegan I mostly didn’t bother making my own mince pies *gasp*! Back in my professional catering younger days I made in excess of 4000 mince pies one Christmas and while I never lost the enjoyment for eating them, I most definitely lost the enjoyment for making them. I should also point out that that 4k was between just 2 of us – by hand, no automation whatsoever.
But that was many moons ago and we’ve not sampled many bought vegan mince pies yet – the ones we have tried were mostly overly sweet mincemeat in overly claggy pastry.
And I fancied a change to just a run of the mill mince pie. Dad used to top his with a Bakewell sponge and they were bloody fantastic. That might be next year’s vegan mince pie project.
Small confession time though – I did use bought pastry which is pretty decent to be honest. AND you’re making your own vegan mincemeat as well as the Viennese Whirl topping so you’re doing most of the hard work yourself 😉
Aaaaaand there’s enough to do already in the madness of Christmas right?
If you’re dead set on making your own pastry though, I recommend the recipe from these Vegan Mince Pies and I’ve a tutorial on how to make pastry.
The Viennese Whirl topping couldn’t be simpler. You’ll need to use the block type vegan butter as the tub margarine type is too soft and probably won’t hold that swirl shape when baked. But you absolutely will need to bring the vegan block butter to room temperature before making the dough. Because you’re adding in flour it becomes quite stiff to pipe and you want the butter to be soft enough to make more of a paste with the flour rather than a dough. You’ll chill the piped mince pies before baking anyway – giving the butter the chance to re-harden and thus hold its shape when baked.
So if you’re looking for something a little different in your vegan mince pie this year or want to add a new idea to your favourite Christmas recipes arsenal I honestly can’t recommend these enough. The whirl topping is rich, buttery and melt in the mouth soft. The mincemeat is full of fruity, spicy flavour and not cloyingly sweet. And Phil “I don’t like mince pies as much as I don’t like vegan Christmas cake” ate at least 2 to my 1, pretty much chain eating one after the other 😉
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Viennese Whirl Mince Pies
prep: 30 mins / cook: 20 mins / inactive: 30 mins / total: 1 hour 20 mins / quantity: 15-18 mince pies
Ingredients
Viennese Whirl Topping:
- 2/3 cup (160g ) vegan block butter – needs to be room temperature not fridge cold (see note)
- 1/4 cup (40g) icing sugar
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup (160g) plain flour
- 1/4 cup (40g) cornflour
375g ready rolled shortcrust pastry
Instructions
- To make the Viennese whirl topping cream together the vegan butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until soft and fluffy. You can do this by hand, in a food processor or in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment
- Beat in the flour and cornflour until well mixed but try not to overmix
- Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and set aside. Leave at room temp, don't put in the fridge!
- If necessary, grease your mince pie tin(s)
- Unroll your pastry. I also use a rolling pin to roll it out a little thinner
- Use a round cutter to cut out 15 circles that fit your mince pie tin. I used a 3 inch (7cm) fluted cutter for a standard mince pie tin
- Lay the circles into the mince pie tin, pushing down to fill the cups
- Put a heaped teaspoon of mincemeat into each cup, pushing it flat
- Pipe swirls or rosettes of the Viennese whirl topping onto each mince pie
- If you run out of topping but still have mincemeat and pastry left, re-roll the pastry trimmings cutting slightly smaller circles for the top and make a few regular extra mince pies
- Put the mince pies in the fridge for around 30 minutes to set the topping
- Preheat your oven to 170 Fan / 190 C / 375 F / Gas 5
- Bake the mince pies for 15-20 minutes until the topping is just lightly golden
- Leave to cool slightly before devouring (remember the filling will be very hot!)
- Store in an airtight container once completely cooled
Notes
- I really recommend taking the butter out of the fridge the day before you want to make these - it needs to be quite soft to be able to pipe the whirls. You'll also need to use the block butter type rather than the tub margarine type as it probably won't hold the swirl shape when baked
Some products I used in today's post...
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Hello there! I’m Sam, former Michelin star pastry chef and now your go-to vegan foodie on a mission to make plant-based eating a deliciously easy adventure! From cozy comfort foods to vibrant salads and decadent desserts, there’s something for everyone in my kitchen.
Whether you’re cooking for one or for a houseful I believe food doesn’t have to be complicated to be full of FLAVOUR and I want to show you how. I’ve been a rigorous meal planner for over a decade whilst embracing seasonal ingredients (because that’s where the real flavour is!)
I’m also a dedicated dog mum to Nooch and Baxter and enjoy cooking them homemade treats (many of which are posted here) when I’m not screaming at the tennis or devouring fantasy fiction.
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