Viennese Whirl Mince Pies with a flaky walnut and orange pastry, rich mincemeat filling and a light and crumbly buttery biscuit Viennese Whirl topping. Delicious!
Much as I truly love a good old-fashioned mince pie, such as my Homemade Mince Pies or Puff Pastry Mince Pies, I feel there is much scope for breaking the mould, as it were, and creating something a little more special.
So bring on mince pies with a Viennese whirl topping! For a start, we have a walnut and orange pastry that boasts a nutty, orangey flavour and is so light and flaky. Then we have a delicious boozy mincemeat filling. And finally a light and crumbly biscuity topping.
These are my new annual mince pie fad!
Try them warmed up with some Proper English Vanilla Custard, oh wow they melt in the mouth.
Enjoy! 🎄
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What makes these Viennese Whirl Mince Pies soooooo special?
Buttery, light Vienesse Whirl crumbly topping✔️
Light, nutty walnut and orange flaky pastry case✔️
Flavoursome rich mincemeat filling✔️
Mix of complementary textures and flavours ✔️
Freeze well, you can defrost them as you need them ✔️
Ingredients and Substitutions
See the Recipe card below for the exact quantities
- Walnut halves
Can be substituted with ground almonds or omitted altogether. - Plain flour
- Fine salt
Can be omitted or reduced if you choose, however, salt does help bring out the flavours in the pastry. - Unsalted butter
Needs to be cold and cubed for the pastry and warm and soft for the Viennese Whirls. - Caster sugar
You can use icing sugar instead, I tend to prefer caster sugar for this pastry and it stops it from being too short and biscuit-like. - Orange zest
- Fresh cold orange juice
Can be substituted for ice-cold water - Egg
- Walnut and Whisky Mincemeat or a 411-gram standard-sized jar of good quality mincemeat.
You can liven this up by adding a handful (about 30 grams) of dried cranberries and a tablespoon of brandy, whisky or almond liqueur (or orange juice if you prefer). Add 30 grams of chopped nuts for added texture too. - Self-raising flour
Or use plain flour and add a teaspoon of baking powder. - Cornflour
- Icing sugar
- Vanilla extract
You can omit the vanilla extract or replace it with ½ a teaspoon of almond extract if you are an almond lover.
Instructions
See Recipe card for exact instructions.
Walnut and Orange Pastry
Blitz your walnuts until they are powder-like. Add your flour and salt and mix together thoroughly.
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Dot over your cubed cold butter and pulse until mixed to a consistency of breadcrumbs.
Mix in your caster sugar.
Add your egg yolk, orange juice and orange zest and pulse until the mixture starts to form large clumps.
Tip the pastry out onto your work surface and pull together into a ball, but do not knead. Press into a rough circle around an inch and a half deep. Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the butter.
Whilst your pastry is setting make your Vienesse Whirl topping. Beat your soft butter a few times until it no longer sticks to the beaters.
Viennese Whirl Topping
Then beat in your sifted icing sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.
Beat in your vanilla extract and orange zest. Sift together your flour and cornflour and add. Start beating on a low setting. Keep wiping the bowl down with your spatula to ensure all of the mixture is incorporated. Turn up the speed and beat for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
Remove your pastry from the fridge and roll out half of it to a depth of 3mm. Cut out 12 circles using a 9cm fluted cutter. Add to a greased mince pie tin or 12 hole muffin tin. Fill with 1-2 teaspoons of mincemeat to just below the rim of the pastry case.
Add your Viennese Whirl mixture to your piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle and then pip swirls over your mince pies. Either starting at the outside and ending in the middle or the other way around.
Bake for 20 minutes until lightly golden on top. Leave to cool in the tin for 10-15 minutes so the pastry sets before removing to a cooling rack. Once cool sift over some extra icing sugar.
Storage
These Vienesse Whirl Mince Pies will keep for 5-7 days if stored in an airtight container at room temperature. They can be frozen as well and should be consumed within 3 months.
Top tips
Walnut and Orange Pastry
Grinding your walnuts – I find the easiest way to grind walnuts is using a Nutribullet, however, a food processor will do the job just as well.
Consistency – I find 3 level tablespoons of fresh orange juice along with the egg yolk results in the perfect consistency for your pastry. Stop mixing as soon as the majority of the pastry starts to form clumps, there will still be some dry mixture in the base of the bowl.
Once you tip your pastry mixture out and bring it together into a ball the dry ingredients will blend in.
Your pastry should have a soft, pliable texture, it should not be too wet and and it should stick together easily.
Viennese Whirl Topping
Ensure your butter is very soft, if too hard it makes piping your Viennese Whirls really difficult.
Once all of the ingredients have been added you need to beat your mixture for a few minutes to be sure it achieves a light and fluffy texture, otherwise, your Viennese Whirls will be dense and heavy.
Once you’ve piped your Viennese Whirls it is vital that you refrigerate them for at least 30 minutes. This is because the biscuits contain a large quantity of butter and if they are not chilled the butter will simply melt and spread during baking and you will have more of a splodge than a whirl. However they will taste so good no one will mind 😊
Additional content – mincemeat recipe
For my Walnut and Whisky Mincement go to Walnut and Whisky Mincemeat
Or for a quick do-it-yourself mincemeat mix together all of the following:
250 grams of mixed dried fruit
½ a cooking apple, cored and chopped into small pieces (skin left on)
30 grams of ready-to-eat apricots, chopped
30 grams of ready-to-eat prunes, chopped
30 grams of walnut halves, chopped
30 grams of almonds (preferably skin-on) chopped
30 grams of dried cranberries
100 grams of vegetable suet
2 teaspoons of mixed spice
½ teaspoon of grated whole nutmeg
120 grams dark brown sugar
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
4 tablespoons of either dark spiced rum, brandy, whisky, or almond liqueur
4 tablespoons of fresh orange juice.
Once all mixed together set aside with a clean tea towel over the top for a few hours (preferably over night so that the dried fruit really soaks up the liquid). Then store in sterilised jars. See Sterilising Glass Jars for guidance
When you come to use the mincemeat add a drop more orange juice or alcohol.
FAQ
If your mixture is too dense it will not pipe well and your biscuits will be heavy and dense. To avoid this happening ensure your butter is really soft. If the final mixture is still stiff mix in a little cold milk to soften it up.
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
📖 Recipe
Venessa Whirl Mince Pies
If you fancy a mince pie with a difference then I recommend these gorgeous Viennese Whirl Mince Pies! Made with a flavoursome flaky walnut and orange pastry, a rich mincemeat filling and a light and crumbly buttery biscuit Viennese Whirl topping.
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Calories:
Here's what you'll need...
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Food processor with blade fitted
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Stand or hand mixer with beaters fitted
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Mince pie tin or 12 hole muffin tin
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9cm pastry cutter
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Piping bag with large sized star nozzle fitted such as 1M
Ingredients you'll need...
Walnut and Orange Pastry - this will make enough pastry for 24 mince pies
- 50 g Walnut haves
- 250 g Plain flour
- ¼ teaspoon Fine salt
- 125 g Unsalted butter cold and cubed (if it warms up whilst being cubed then refrigerate for 10 minutes)
- 50 g Caster sugar
- 1 Egg yolk
- Zest of an orange
- 2-3 tablespoon Fresh orange juice
Mincemeat filling
- Either use my Walnut and Whisky Mincemeat or a 411 gram jar of good quality mincemeat. If you using a jar of mincemeat add a tablespoons of brandy, whisky or almond liqueur. You can also add 30 grams of dried cranberries and 30 grams of chopped walnuts or almonds.
Viennese Whirl
- 150 g Unsalted butter must be really soft
- 150 g Self Raising flour
- 60 g Icing sugar
- 40 g Cornflour
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon Orange zest
Here's what we do...
Walnut and Orange Pastry
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Grind the walnuts in a good processor or Nutribullet until powder like.
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Mix together your flour, salt and ground walnuts. You can do this in your food processor, however to be sure it mixes thoroughly I usually do this in a separate bowl and then tip into the food processor.
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Dot over the cold cubed butter and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Make sure all of the dry mixture at the base of the food processor bowl is mixed in.
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Mix in your caster sugar (again you may find it easier to tip out into a separate bowl to be sure everything mixes in equally).
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Add your egg yolk, orange zest and cold orange juice.
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Pulse again until the pastry starts to form some large clumps, there will still be some loose mixture in the base of the bowl once this starts to happen.
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Tip your pastry out onto a clean work surface and pull it together into a ball, but do not knead it.
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Flatten the pastry to about an inch and a half in depth, cover in clingfilm and then refrigerate for 30 minutes. Note: you will need about half of this pastry for your mince pies, the rest can be used for another batch or frozen.
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Meanwhile make your Viennese Whirl topping.
Viennese Whirl Topping
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Add your butter your stand mixer with the beaters fitted, or fit the beaters to your hand mixer.
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Beat your butter to be sure it is soft enough, when ready it should stick to sides of the bowl and not around the beaters.
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Add your sifted icing sugar and beat until full incorporated, scraping your bowl down as you go to be sure everything mixes in.
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Beat in your vanilla extract and orange zest.
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Sift together your flour and cornflour and then add to your beaten butter mixture.
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Beat for about 3-4 minutes on a medium setting, continually wiping your bowl down to be sure all of the mixture from the sides and base of the bowl is incorporated. Once ready the mixture should be soft and pale yellow. It will also be quite stiff and dough like.
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Add to your piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle. Press the dough down into the nozzle squeezing out any air bubbles and then tie off the top of the piping bag to secure the dough.
Compiling your Viennese Mince Pies.
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Heat your oven to 170°C Fan/190°C/Gas Mark 5/375°F.
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Using some additional butter, grease your mince pie or muffin tin.
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Lightly flour your work surface and then roll out your pastry to a depth of about 3mm. As the pastry is very soft you will find you keep needing to re-flouring your work surface and rolling pin regularly to stop it from sticking.
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Cut out 12 circles and place in the tin, pushing down gently into the base.
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Fill with 1-2 teaspoons of your mincemeat, to just below the edge of the pastry case.
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Take your piping bag and pipe a swirl of Viennese Whirl mixture over the top of each mince pie. Either start in the middle and pipe a round swirl or start at the outside and finish in the middle.
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Refrigerate again for 30 minutes, you need the Viennese Whirls to be cold and hard before baking, otherwise the swirl will lose its definition due to high butter content.
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Bake in the centre of your oven for 20 minutes, until the Viennese Whirl is lightly browned and the edges of the pastry case are nice and brown.
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Leave to cool in the tin for about 15 minutes and then remove to a cooling rack.
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Once cool sift over some extra icing sugar to decorate.
Additional content - mincemeat recipe
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For my Walnut and Whisky Mincement go to Walnut and Whisky MincemeatOr for a quick do-it-yourself mincemeat mix together all of the following:250 grams of mixed dried fruit½ a cooking apple, cored and chopped into small pies (skin left on)30 grams of ready to eat apricots, chopped 30 grams of ready to eat prunes, chopped30 grams of walnut halves, chopped 30 grams of almonds (preferably skin on) chopped }30 grams of dried cranberries100 grams of vegetable suet2 teaspoons of mixed spice½ teaspoon of grated whole nutmeg120 grams dark brown sugarZest of 1 orangeZest of 1 lemon4 tablespoons of either dark spiced rum, brandy, whisky, or almond liqueur4 tablespoons of fresh orange juice.Once mixed set aside with a clean tea-towel over the top and then store in sterilised jars. See Sterilising Glass Jars
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