Quick Puff Pastry Mince Pies with Warninks Advocaat Butter

These puff pastry mince pies are light and crisp with a deliciously fruity filling and come adorned with a delectable and truly unique Warninks advocaat butter. You'll be proud to serve these up to family and friends over Christmas.

This post is sponsored by Warninks. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

If you love festive baking, then you really should try these quick puff pastry mince pies. It's unusual to find this British bake served in anything but shortcrust pastry, but trust me, puff pastry works just as well.

But it's not just the alternative pastry that adds excitement to this bake - it's the Warninks advocaat butter served alongside it too. If you have a soft spot for advocaat this is the bake for you to get your teeth into this year.

Why make these pies?

These quick puff pastry mince pies are bound to become one of your favourite festive bakes:

• The rough puff pastry recipe is easy to achieve and takes just 20 minutes to prepare
• But it's up to you whether to make the pastry or use store-bought instead - the pies will turn out wonderfully either way
• You get to pick your favourite mincemeat, whether that's store-bought or homemade
• The advocaat butter is totally unexpected. Guests will love this unique touch
• They can be made in advance and frozen, ready to bake

Try serving them with a festive tipple such as a Snowball or a glass of Bombardino - a warm advocaat drink. Either drink complements this treat exceedingly well.

What is Advocaat butter?

Advocaat butter is just like brandy butter but with advocaat replacing much of the brandy. It's simply a mixture of butter, sugar, advocaat and a drop of brandy.

Why use Warninks advocaat? Well, Snowball cocktails, made from advocaat, are so synonymous with Christmas it seemed a natural pairing. And the vanilla custard flavour of Warninks advocaat liqueur does excel in this sweet boozy butter.

Just like brandy butter, advocaat butter is the perfect partner to mince pies, whether they are served warm or cold. It adds that extra level of indulgence to this festive treat, so I urge you to whip up a batch to serve with these puff pastry mince pies.

Ingredients notes

Use real butter for both the advocaat butter and the pastry. The taste will be rich and full on both counts. Furthermore, butter contains more fat and less water than baking margarine and therefore creates superior quality pastry with a lovely flaky texture and impressive lift.

Plain white flour has been used for the pastry. Although we want the pastry to lift, this is caused by the butter trapped in the dough. It is not the result of a raising agent, so self-raising flour should not be used in this recipe.

I used Warninks advocaat for the boozy butter. Made from egg yolks, sugar, vanilla and brandy, Warninks is highly regarded in the world of advocaat because of its high quality combined with a purse-friendly price point. I wouldn't contemplate using any other brand.

It's common to find brandy butter recipes using caster, powdered or brown sugar. I opted for light brown sugar for my advocaat butter to provide a lovely mellow depth of flavour to complement the advocaat.

Step-by-step instructions

Keep in mind that although it only takes 20 minutes to make the pastry, it does then need to chill for an hour before you can get on with cutting out and baking these puff pastry mince pies.

1. Divide the butter into 4 portions
2. Put the flour and salt into a bowl and stir briefly then add 1 portion of the butter (cubed) and rub in
3. Pour in ¾ of the water and mix, with a blunt knife, to a soft dough, adding more water as necessary (do not add so much that the dough turns sticky)
4. Roll the dough into a long rectangle on a lightly floured worktop to approx 4mm thick. Take another portion of the butter, cube it and scatter over ⅔ of the dough, leaving the final ⅓ empty
5. Fold the empty third of the dough over the top of the dough, bringing it to the centre. Fold the other end of the pastry over the top, then rotate the pastry 90 degrees
6. Repeat steps 4-5 twice more to incorporate the remaining 2 portions of butter
7. When all of the butter has been used, rotate the pastry and roll out once more, then fold it and repeat. Fold up again then wrap before chilling for 1 hour in the fridge
8. Remove from the fridge, roll out pastry to 3mm thick and use a round cutter (about 8½cm) to cut out 12 bases and place them into muffin trays. Fill with mincemeat
9. Cut 12 lids using a smaller cutter to fit your pies, brush the underside with beaten egg and press them on top to seal. Glaze with the beaten egg, sprinkle with demerara sugar (optional), make a small cut in the tops and bake for 20 minutes
10. Let cool in the muffin tin
11. Meanwhile make the advocaat butter by creaming the butter using electric beaters until smooth. Add the sugar and mix again. Add the brandy, 1 teaspoon at a time, beating well between each addition. Then add the advocaat in the same way.
12. Keep on adding the alcohol in small icrements until it is all incorporated. Set aside or chill until required

Expert Tips

• If you don't enjoy making pastry or need to save time, storebought puff pastry can be used in this recipe. You'll need a 500g block
• Remember to chill the pastry dough properly. It is easier to handle when sufficiently chilled and will bake to a superior texture
• Puff pastry can be re-rolled but it is important not to scoop the offcuts up and squeeze them together. Instead stack the offcuts on top of each other and then re-roll. This helps to preserve the lamination built up in the making process that helps the pastry puff up when baked
• To ensure your mince pies don't get stuck in the tin cut strips of baking parchment and push them into the holes underneath the pastry. When it comes to removing the pies simply lift them out using the overhanging parchment
• Use a mixture of circles and stars to top the mince pies for visual interest
• Use room temperature butter when making the advocaat butter as it is less likely to split
• These puff pastry mince pies will stay fresh for up to 3 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature

Frequently asked questions

More ways to include advocaat in cooking and baking

If you are looking for more advocaat recipes aside from drinks and cocktails take a look at these ingenious ideas:

• Snowball truffles - these are a fantastically festive treat
• Advocaat ice cream - a lighter festive dessert
• Bake an advocaat cake that's suitable for any time of the year
• Snowball tart - another fantastic seasonal dessert
• Make a snowball curd - yes that's right, lemon curd infused with glorious advocaat

Of course, the word snowball features a lot here. It's the drink synonymous with advocaat after all. You might well enjoy my twist on the classic Warninks Snowball cocktail and the hardcore Snowball fans amongst us will be delighted to hear that Warninks have created the Snowball in a ready-to-drink can. Hoorah! You can find them in Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Morrisons.

Have you made these quick puff pastry mince pies with Warninks advocaat butter? Please give it a rating or leave a comment - I love to hear how you get along with my creations.

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