You will love these Fruit Mince Puff Pastry Pinwheels. They are the perfect combination of flaky puff pastry, with a cheesecake-style topping and sweet, spicy fruit mince. The pastries are delicious and will be an ideal addition to your festive celebrations. Serve them for breakfast, brunch, or dessert. Your friends and family are certain to enjoy them, and you will have the satisfaction of making pastries that look as if they may have come from a good bakery.
Why You'll Love This Recipe:
- We simplify the recipe by using one of our favourite staple ingredients, store bought frozen butter puff pastry.
- The pastries are versatile: serve them for breakfast with your morning coffee, enjoy at a relaxed brunch party or for dessert with a scoop of our No-Churn Vanilla Ice Cream.
- They combine flaky puff pastry with the traditional flavours of Christmas mince pies, making them ideal to serve friends and family over the festive season.
- We use our Homemade Fruit Mince in the pastries, but you can use a commercial variety if you prefer.
- Although the pastries may look “fancy”, they are not difficult to make. We have some photos to show you how to make them.
Recipe Inspiration: we LOVE using our Homemade Fruit Mince in as many ways as possible. Whether it is our Gluten-free Fruit Mince Pies, Christmas Truffles or Fruit Mince Oatmeal Bars, these recipes all perfectly capture the essence of Christmas, and we were inspired to add more to the collection.
Ingredients and Substitutions:
Please see the recipe card further along in the post for exact quantities of ingredients and the full method.
- Puff pastry – for flavour, my preference is butter puff pastry.
- Cream cheese - we use full fat cream cheese for this recipe.
- Vanilla extract – ensure that it is made from vanilla beans and has not been synthetically flavoured.
- Icing/powdered sugar – we use it to sweeten the cream cheese as it dissolves easily. Also, use it to dust the pastries before serving.
- Fruit mince – we use our own Homemade Fruit Mince.
- Egg – we use an egg wash to glaze the pastries.
Variations:
Fruit mince – if you prefer, you can use a commercial mixture. Check that the flavour is to your taste, and add orange zest, juice, or cinnamon if it is necessary.
Demerara sugar – a sprinkle on the pastry before baking adds a delicious crunch.
How To Make Fruit Mince Pinwheels:
Please see the recipe card further along in the post for exact quantities of ingredients and the full method.
1 – Prepare the cream cheese topping:
In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla and icing/powdered sugar and mix well. Set aside.
2 – Start to cut the pastry:
Cut a sheet of puff pastry into four squares. Leave the other sheets of pastry in the fridge to remain chilled.
Use a ruler and mark the centre of the pastry square. Use a sharp knife and cut diagonal lines toward the outside corners of the squares.
3 – Fold in the first corner:
Start folding in the pastry to form the pinwheel.
4 – Repeat with the second and subsequent corners:
Fold every other point toward the centre.
5 – The folded pastry:
Gently press down to seal the tip of the triangle to the base.
Carefully place the pastry squares onto your baking trays, so they aren’t touching each other.
6 – Top with the cream cheese mixture:
Place cream cheese mixture in the centre of the pastry and make a slight indentation in the centre.
7 – Add the fruit mince:
To the centre of the pastry, add the fruit mince.
8 – Brush with egg wash:
Brush the pastry with the beaten egg and return the baking tray to the fridge to chill while preheating your oven.
Bake until the pastry is golden brown. Dust with icing sugar to serve.
Hint: to get the best rise from the pastry, it must be kept chilled. If it starts to warm up as you are working with it, return it to the fridge as it will become difficult to handle.
Tips for Success, Storage and FAQs:
Like many pastry dishes, the pastries are best enjoyed warm from the oven. However, they can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Re-heat the pastries in a 180 degrees C (355 F) oven for about 7 minutes, or until they have crisped up.
The pinwheels freeze very well. Store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Pastries can be reheated as above.
You certainly can. You may prefer to shape the pastry as we have used in Apricot and Cream Cheese Puff Pastry or our Easy Mini Plum Tarts.
Yes, you can, just use an appropriate pastry. If you are using a commercial fruit mince, check the label to ensure that it is safe to use.
The pastry scraps can make a delicious snack, both sweet and savoury! For a sweet version, brush with melted butter and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. For a savoury version, sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese and paprika or cayenne pepper. Bake on a tray lined with baking paper until they are golden. They may be a random shape, but they still taste fantastic!
Top Tip:
Cut the pastry squares and place them on your baking tray. This is much easier than trying to move the pastries to the tray once you have assembled them.
Serving Suggestions:
These Fruit Mince Pinwheels are especially appropriate for the festive season. Some of the ways to enjoy them are:
- For morning or afternoon tea – they are perfect with a cup of tea or coffee!
- As a great addition to a brunch party.
- With our Christmas Fruit Mince Ice Cream.
- As a lovely edible gift.
I am sure these Fruit Mince Puff Pastry Pinwheels will be as popular in your home as they are in mine! Be sure to let me know in the comments below when you have given them a try.
Alex xx
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Fruit Mince Puff Pastry Pinwheels
Please note:
For accuracy, when weights are provided, we recommend weighing your ingredients. This will produce the best results. All oven temperatures listed are for fan forced.
Ingredients
- 3 sheets butter puff pastry – ready rolled. Mine measured 24 cm (9.5 inches) square
- 120 g (4 oz) cream cheese - full fat
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ tablespoon icing/powdered sugar See Note 1
- ½ cup fruit mince – I use homemade, but store bought is fine. See Note 2
- 1 egg - lightly whisked
- icing/powdered sugar - for dusting
Instructions
- You will need to bake the pastries in batches. I could only fit 4 pastries on my baking trays.Line the baking trays with non-stick baking paper.
- Remove the pastry from the freezer and defrost. Keep the sheets that you are not using in the fridge, the pastry must be kept cool.
- In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla and icing/powdered sugar and mix well. Set aside.
- Cut each sheet of puff pastry into four, so you have 12 x 12cm (4 ¾ inch) squares. Depending on the size of your pastry, this may vary slightly. I use a metal ruler to measure. It is easier to work with one sheet of pastry at a time, so the others remain chilled.
- Place a ruler or wooden spoon with a straight handle, on the diagonal, and mark the centre of the pastry square. Starting 2 cm (¾ inch) from the centre, use a sharp knife and cut diagonal lines toward the outside corners of the squares. See our process shots in the blog post for how to cut and fold the pastries.If the pastry becomes warm at any stage, it will be difficult to handle and will need to be refrigerated until the pastry firms up.
- Fold every other point toward the centre and gently press down to seal the tip of the triangle to the base.Carefully place the pastry squares onto your baking trays, so they aren’t touching each other, as it is easier to assemble them on the tray.
- Place about 2 teaspoons of the cream mixture in the centre of the pastry and use a blunt nose knife or the back of a teaspoon to shape a circle about 4 cm (1.5 inches) diameter with a slight indentation in the centre.
- Add 1 ½ teaspoons of the fruit mince to the centre.Brush the pastry with beaten egg and return the baking tray to the fridge to chill while preheating the oven to 200 degrees C (390 F).
- Bake for about 10–12 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and cooked through.Cool 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.Dust with icing/powdered sugar to serve.
Notes
- Tablespoon: we use a standard Australian tablespoon which is 20 ml (4 teaspoons). For readers located elsewhere in the world, please use 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon for each tablespoon listed.
- Fruit mince meat: we use our Homemade Fruit Mince, but if you prefer, you can use a commercial mixture. Check that the flavour is to your taste, and add orange zest, juice, or cinnamon if it is necessary. This is one of the few occasions where a volume measurement is more accurate than weight.
- Storage: store them in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Re-heat the pastries in a 180 degrees C (355 F) oven for about 7 minutes, or until they have crisped up.
- Freezing: the pinwheels freeze very well. Store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Separate the layers with non-stick baking paper. Reheat as above.
Nutrition Estimate:
Nutritional Disclaimer:
The nutritional information is an estimate only, and is derived from online calculators. For accurate results, we recommend calculating the nutritional information based on the ingredients and brands you use.
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