Christmas Mince Pain Aux Raisin
These Christmas mince pain aux raisin are the perfect festive breakfast! They aren't as hard to make as they seem, and the key to a flaky pastry really lies in the proofing!
CHRISTMAS MINCE PAIN AUX RAISIN
Makes 8 scrolls
FRUIT MIX
30G SULTANAS
30G DRIED CRANBERRIES
30G RAISINS
30G DRIED PRUNES, CHOPPED
50G MIXED PEEL
RUM OR BRANDY FOR SOAKING
Place all the dried fruit and mixed peel in a container and cover with rum or brandy, or you can use tea or orange juice. Leave to soak overnight at room temperature or in the fridge.
SPICED PASTRY CREAM
100G MILK
1 TSP MIXED SPICE
SMALL PINCH SALT
20G BROWN SUGAR
7G CORNFLOUR
1 EGG YOLK
20G BUTTER
In a small pot bring the milk, mixed spice and salt to a boil. In a bowl whisk the brown sugar and cornflour together, then whisk in the egg yolk. Whisk a small amount of the boiled milk into this, then pour all of this mix into the milk pot. Return to a low heat and cook, whisking constantly, until the pastry cream boils and has thickened. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Allow to cool, stirring every few minutes to prevent a skin from forming. If you're making this ahead of time (it will last up to three days in the fridge) then press a piece of clingfilm onto the surface to stop a skin from forming.
CROISSANT DOUGH
125G MILK
1 TSP INSTANT DRY YEAST
30G SUGAR
250G FLOUR
3/4 TSP SALT
25G BUTTER (FOR THE DOUGH)
125G BUTTER (FOR LAYERING. I USE SALTED BUTTER FOR THIS)
FLOUR FOR DUSTING
ICING SUGAR TO FINISH
THE DAY BEFORE
Make your croissant dough by mixing the milk, yeast and sugar together. Add in the flour and salt and begin to knead until you have a rough ball of dough. Add in the 25g of butter and continue to knead until the dough is springing back when you press on it. You can do the kneading by hand or with a stand mixer. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill overnight.
THE DAY OF MAKING
Use a rolling pin and lots of flour to bash the 125g of butter, hitting it and folding it until the butter becomes pliable. This shouldn't take more than 5 minutes. Shape the butter into a rectangle that is about 2-3cm thick.
Roll your croissant dough to be the same height but twice as wide as your butter rectangle. Place the butter in the centre of the croissant dough and fold the edges over so the butter is encased in the dough (this makes more sense if you watch the video!). Pinch the seam of the dough to make sure its properly joined.
Flip the dough over so the seam is on the bench and begin to roll it out. You want to be rolling the dough in one direction only (lengthways), with the open ends facing towards you. Roll the dough until it is 2-3cm thick. Fold the top third of the dough down to the middle third, then the bottom third up, like folding a letter. This is called a single fold. Wrap your dough with clingfilm and chill for 15-20 minutes before repeating the rolling process, always rolling in one direction with the open ends facing towards you. Complete another fold on your dough, then chill it for another 15-20 minutes before doing one final roll and fold. In total you want to have done 3 single folds on your dough.
Allow the dough to rest for another 20 minutes in the fridge before rolling it out to a 25cm wide and 30cm tall rectangle. If you find the dough is springing back a lot when rolling you can put it back in the fridge for 10-15 minutes to allow the gluten to relax.
Spread the spiced pastry cream over the croissant dough, then spread your drained dried fruit over that. Trim the top and bottom edges of the dough then roll the dough, starting at the bottom edge that you trimmed, to form a log. Trim the ends of the log to make it nice and neat, then slice the log into 8 pieces.
Place the 8 scrolls on a lined baking tray, tucking under the "tail" of the scroll. If you want you can bake the croissants in tart rings to help keep their shape - I used 8cm tart rings. You could also use muffin tins but you may want to make the croissants smaller if doing this. At this stage the croissants can be chilled overnight ( but this will increase the proofing time) or they can be frozen. If freezing then I like to defrost the croissants in the fridge overnight before taking them out to proof.
TO BAKE
Spray the top of the croissants with spray oil and leave them in a warm place to double in size. The ideal temperature for proofing croissant dough is about 25c for 2-3 hours. Be careful that the scrolls do not get too warm while proofing - if the temperature goes up to 30c or higher the butter may start to leak out of the croissants, which would ruin your beautiful layers.
Preheat the oven to 190c and bake the croissants for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden. Remove them from the oven, and remove the tart rings if using them. Brush the scrolls with your brown sugar syrup (recipe below) and return to the oven for 2-3 minutes to crisp the croissants. Remove from the oven and allow to cool fully before dusting the scrolls with icing sugar. Enjoy the same day as baking!
BROWN SUGAR SYRUP
75G BROWN OR MUSCOVADO SUGAR
75G WATER
1/8 TSP VANILLA BEAN PASTE
15G HONEY
PEEL OF ONE LEMON OR ORANGE (IF YOU HAVE ONE LYING AROUND)
Bring the sugar, water, vanilla, honey and citrus peel to a boil. Simmer for 30 seconds to a minute, then set aside to cool at room temperature.