Serve these delicious and simple to create Christmas fruit mincemeat twigs with a little brandy butter or whipped cream for a festive treat.
“When chalet catering over the Christmas period we are always looking for simple treats for Christmas, and these were created on a day when we had planned to make some little tartlets, but found ourselves without a suitable tin! You can serve them warm or cold for dessert with brandy butter (simply beat some softened butter with twice its quantity of icing sugar and beat in some brandy to taste) or whipped cream, or as a little treat with coffee or a cuppa throughout the festive season.”
Christmas Mincemeat Twigs Recipe
Preparation 10 mins | Cooking 15 mins | Makes 10 twigs | Dairy-Free
Ingredients:
1 packet of 10 sheets of filo pastry
½ x 411 g (14 oz) jar of good mincemeat
icing (confectioners’) sugar, for dusting
Method:
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Lay a sheet of filo pastry onto a clean work surface, making sure the remaining sheets are covered or they will dry out while you are working.
You are going to lay a narrow strip of mincemeat on the filo across the shorter width of the pastry. Spoon 2 teaspoons of mincemeat onto the pastry at one short end, 2 cm (¾ in) in from the edge, and drag it in a thin line, no wider than the width of the dried fruit in the mincemeat, from one side to the other across the pastry, stopping 2 cm (¾ in) before you reach the other edge.
Fold the ends over and then roll as tightly as you can so you have a long, thin twig-shaped filo parcel with the mincemeat trapped inside. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet and repeat with the other filo sheets and mincemeat.
Dust very generously with icing sugar and bake for 15 minutes or until the filo is crispy and golden and the sugar browned. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Dust with more icing sugar to serve.
Smart Tip:
These mincemeat twigs are great replacements for the more usual Christmas mince pies and are very quick and simple to prepare.
This is an edited extract from Lucy’s Bakes by Lucy Cufflin published by Hardie Grant RRP $49.95 available in stores nationally.
