Apple Mincemeat Puffs
These are fun bakes to make, especially with kids, for autumn. You can experiment with the shapes; I like to use seasonal apple and leaf cutters. With ready made puff pastry, they are also really easy.
Eat them as a snack, or serve them warmed through in the oven for dessert, with ice cream.
This recipe uses my apple mincemeat. If you don't fancy making that, simply use store-bought mincemeat instead.
Makes about 16 puffs, but the precise number depends on your cutter size.
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan). Unroll the puff pastry and cut out as many shapes as possible using the cutters. Due to the importance of the layers in puff pastry, it's not easy to reroll the pastry and retain the layers, so try to maximise the amount of shapes you can cut without rerolling by working from the outside edge inwards, and using the cutters as a sort of jigsaw! I use smaller cutters to fill in any gaps. Place them spaced apart on the lined baking trays.
These are fun bakes to make, especially with kids, for autumn. You can experiment with the shapes; I like to use seasonal apple and leaf cutters. With ready made puff pastry, they are also really easy.
Eat them as a snack, or serve them warmed through in the oven for dessert, with ice cream.
This recipe uses my apple mincemeat. If you don't fancy making that, simply use store-bought mincemeat instead.
Makes about 16 puffs, but the precise number depends on your cutter size.
Ingredients
- About a third of my apple mincemeat
- 375g ready rolled puff pastry
- 50g icing sugar
- Juice of ½ lemon
Equipment
- Cookie cutters (I used apple and leaf cutters, but you could use anything)
- At least two baking trays, lined with baking parchment
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan). Unroll the puff pastry and cut out as many shapes as possible using the cutters. Due to the importance of the layers in puff pastry, it's not easy to reroll the pastry and retain the layers, so try to maximise the amount of shapes you can cut without rerolling by working from the outside edge inwards, and using the cutters as a sort of jigsaw! I use smaller cutters to fill in any gaps. Place them spaced apart on the lined baking trays.
2. Place a teaspoon of apple mincemeat in the centre of each pastry shape. Aim for no more mincemeat than this, otherwise it could overspill in the oven.
3. Bake at 200°C (fan) for about 15 minutes (the precise time will depend on the size of your pastry shapes, so keep an eye on the oven and aim for the colour in the picture below). You may need to turn the trays 180 degrees half way through baking, for an even rise.
4. Transfer to a cooling tray. Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together to achieve a runny icing. Use a folk to drizzle the icing over the top of the puffs, using a quick flicking action. Enjoy fresh (can be frozen). Can be eaten cold or warmed through in a low oven (covered with foil).