Cook with Ginger: Pinwheels

Sometimes when I'm in the mood for baking I look for recipes that are quick, simple, and don't require much thought - especially if I am pressed for time or need to use up an ingredient in particular. 

The other week I was just casually looking through my baking supplies and discovered a jar of mincemeat that was left over from Christmas. It was set to go out of code in July, so I knew I had to use it up ASAP. 

Since we are in June now, I couldn't really justify making mince pies, so instead, I thought about what other pastry-based recipes there are out there. 

I found this recipe for Mincemeat Pinwheels on the Jus-Rol website, and knew I'd be on to a winner. 

This is how the pinwheels turned out. Unfortunately, I suffer from a grumpy old oven, so the recommended cooking time didn't quite work for me, and some of the pastry ended up a bit charred. But the flavour was lovely, and the pinwheels were overall a big success with everyone who tried them! 

With a pinwheel success under my belt I wanted to go for another round using the same recipe, but with a different filling.  Both Boyfriend and I love lemon curd, so I decided to give that a try. I was a bit anxious at first about the consistency of the lemon curd, as it would be a lot more fluid than the mincemeat...

.....But we all need to take risks sometimes!

To be honest I think I used a bit too much lemon curd on my first batch, because when I was making the pastry "Swiss roll" shape, the filling was spilling (oh a rhyme) out of the sides. But it made for a really gorgeous flavour. I did try to bake for less time on these ones, but my oven still decided to take it's bitterness out on my pastries! 

DAMN YOU OVEN!! 

Yesterday I made a second lemon curd batch and used less filling. The construction of the pinwheels went better, but I still got a generous spread of lemon curd across the pastry. Now I just need to work on convincing my oven to not not take out it's frustrations on my offerings.....We shall be having words! 

On this recipe, I think I spent a maximum of £7 for all the ingredients. I bought the pastry on special offer for the lemon curd, already had the mincemeat, and bought 6 eggs, which covered all the batches I did. 

£7 for about 35 -40 pinwheels isn't that bad really!

Ginger x