20 g dried fruit, such as cranberries, blueberries or apricots
250 g good-quality mincemeat
2 clementines
plain flour , for dusting
½ a 250 g block of puff pastry
1 free-range egg
30 g nuts, such as almonds or pistachios
icing sugar , for dusting
Description
Preheat the oven to 200°C/400ºF/gas 6. Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Roughly chop the dried fruit and place in a large mixing bowl with the mincemeat. Add the zest of the clementines and mix well.
Dust a clean work surface with flour and roll out the puff pastry into a rectangle about 20cm x 40cm and the thickness of a pound coin. Thinly spread the mincemeat over the pastry, then roll up into a tight roll, starting with the longer edge closest to you. Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush the top edge to seal.
Using a sharp knife, slice the roll into 18 pinwheels about 1cm thick. Now, to make the Christmas tree: Starting at the top, place one pinwheel at the top edge of the baking tray, then place two beneath, then three beneath that, adding another pinwheel to each row, until you have three pinwheels left. Use these final pinwheels to make the trunk.
Brush the pinwheels with a little beaten egg, then roughly chop the nuts and sprinkle over the top. Bake for 20 minutes, until golden brown. Leave to cool, then dust with a little icing sugar before serving.
