As soon as I saw John Waite's recipe for these Viennese Whirl Mince Pies I absolutely knew I had to make them. It's approaching Christmas so quickly and as an added bonus I had made Delia Smith's wonderful Cranberry Mince meat only a few days before.
I normally prefer to use my own sweet pastry recipe but I trust John and decide I'd go with his. Although it turned out well in the end and beautifully short and flavoursome I found it rather dry & crumbly to work with. I also had to make a couple of batches of the Viennese as it was too stiff to pipe. Perhaps it was just the flour I used as I realise that some flours absorb more liquid than others. On the second batch I added a little more cornflour than stated in place of the plain flour ... this time it worked so much better. John does state that you really need to work the butter and sugar together until light & fluffy before adding the flour...this is absolutely essential or you'll have trouble piping it.
Like John I find nothing wrong with using a good shop bought all butter shortcrust but if you prefer to make your own try my link below.
click here Sweet Shortcrust Pastry (Pate Sucree) I never have any trouble at all with this recipe.
Click here for John's Viennese Whirl Mince Pies recipe
Personally I think the triumph of the pies was Delia's Cranberry Mince meat recipe... so very easy and although most people keep it a while to mature...I didn't... I used it after a couple of days and it is so very deliciously Christmassy... the bonus is that it'll keep indefinitely...not a chance here as I will have used the whole 6 jars over the festive period.
The wonderful Ingredients for the mince meat
Click here for Delia's Cranberry Mince meat recipe
Delia's Mince Meat all jarred & sealed
I have made a second batch of these, recipe tweaked a little to suit myself, these I placed in the freezer unbaked..ready to take out and bake on the day... what could be better than a freshly baked mince pie at Christmas tea time.
