Mincemeat cinnamon rolls
Mincemeat cinnamon rolls are a delicious soft bun filled with the best combination of festive flavours. These are a delicious cross between a mince pie and a cinnamon roll – the perfect winters treat.
Mincemeat cinnamon rolls are a delicious soft bun filled with the best combination of festive flavours. These are a delicious cross between a mince pie and a cinnamon roll – the perfect winters’ treat. Best of all, they use our cheats way of making them which means they will be ready in no time.
We love cinnamon rolls in our house and these are a delicious festive twist on the classic recipe. If you love mincemeat, these lovely soft buns full of Christmas flavour will be the perfect treat for you.
We’ve based this recipe on our quick cinnamon rolls rolls so you don’t need to leave them to prove for hours. Simply pop them in the oven on a low temperature before you bake them and viola! You can however, leave them overnight before popping them in the oven on Christmas day for the perfect festive brunch.
How can kids help make these mincemeat cinnamon rolls rolls?
These sweet rolls are really fun for kids to make and one of my kid’s favourite festive bakes. A recipes go they are a little stop start which can mean your kids can drop in an out of helping, or you could make the dough and get them involved in creating the rolls or vice versa.
When they make the dough, there are few steps they can get involved in from measuring and mixing all together as well as kneading it.
Your kids can also help to roll the dough out before adding the filling and rolling it up to make the swirl. If you mark out where you want to cut the dough and have older children you trust with a knife, they can cut the swirl into portions before putting them into your baking tin.
What is mincemeat?
Mincemeat is the traditional filling in mince pies. It usually contains dried and candied fruit, some festive spices and some suet (or a vegetable shortening), all soaked in brandy, another spirit or some fruit juice. In the past mincemeat did contain meat, but it hasn’t (with the exception of the suet) for a few Centuries.
We sometimes use a jar of mincemeat and add some extra sultanas or chopped apple, but you can’t beat homemade mincemeat made entirely from scratch.
How long do mincemeat cinnamon rolls keep?
These mincemeat rolls will keep in an airtight container for a day or two.
If you want to keep them for longer it is possible to freeze them for up to three months. You can freeze them either before or after you’ve baked them, just make sure you wrap them well before putting them in the freezer and leave them to thaw at room temperature overnight before you want to eat them. Once they’re thawed, either bake or reheat them in the oven before drizzling over the icing.
Can you make mincemeat cinnamon rolls ahead of time?
Yes, you can make these rolls up the day before so you could make them on Christmas Eve ready for a Christmas day brunch.
To make them ahead of time, make them up to where you put them in the baking tray to prove. At this point, wrap them well in cling film / glad wrap and pop them in the fridge overnight. When it’s time to bake them, just make sure they have doubled in size before you put them in the oven. If they haven’t risen well in the fridge, pop them in the oven for about 30 minutes at a low temperature until they have doubled in size, then bake them.
Similar recipes
If you have more mincemeat to use up, or want to make some other Christmas recipes, why not try some of our favourite festive bakes below:
Mincemeat loaf cake
Puff pastry mince pies
Mincemeat palmiers
Mincemeat muffins
Mincemeat flapjacks
Mincemeat pinwheels
Or if you want some festive buns but don’t want to use mincemeat why not try our Christmas buns.
Useful equipment
You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these mincemeat cinnamon rolls
Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
9 inch baking tin
Wire rack
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Difficulty: A wee bit harder
Time: 40 minutes plus 20 minutes baking
Serves: 9
Ingredients
For the buns
330g (2 and ¾ cups) strong white bread flour
3 table spoon granulated sugar
1 tea spoon salt
1 packet dried fast action yeast (1 packet = 2 and ¼ teaspoons)
120ml (½ cup) water
60ml (¼ cup) milk
30g (2 table spoon) unsalted butter
1 large egg
For the filling
60g (4 table spoons) butter, softened
200g mincemeat
For the icing
100g icing sugar
1 – 2 tablespoons milk
How to make mincemeat cinnamon rolls
Line a 9 inch square baking tray with baking paper.
The easiest way of lining a tin if you don’t have purpose made tin liners is to cut a strip of baking paper the width of the tin and lay it in in one direction. Then repeat this step with a strip going the other way. Leave a little bit of baking paper overhanging the edge to make it easier to remove the mincemeat cinnamon rolls once they’re baked.
Measure out the dry dough ingredients
Start by measuring out the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and yeast) and add them into the bowl of your free-standing mixer or a large mixing bowl.
When you add the salt, sugar and yeast, add them to separate sides of your bowl and make sure your kids use their finger to level the teaspoons so that they add just the right amount. Set it aside for now.
Add the wet ingredients
Measure the water and milk out and add them to a microwaveable bowl or jug. Get your kids to measure the butter and cut it into a few small pieces then add it to the bowl. This is good job for kids to do to practice their cutting skills as you can use a blunt/table knife and it doesn’t matter what size and shape the pieces all end up.
Pop your bowl with the milk/water/butter into in the microwave for approx 45-60 seconds until the butter has melted. Test that the mixture is warm rather than hot – I just dipped my finger in to check it. It should feel like a nice temperature. (If it’s too hot it’ll kill the yeast and if it’s cold the yeast won’t activate properly).
Get your kids to crack the egg into a small bowl then add it to your flour. We never add it straight in to our mixing bowl just in case any shell goes in. If (or when) it does, we simply fish it out with a larger piece of shell or a teaspoon.
Pour the milk/butter mixture into the flour.
Knead the dough
Using the dough hook on your free-standing mixer or just your hands, knead your mixture for 5-10 minutes. It’ll will take a bit longer to do by hand, so we tend to use use our mixer as it’s a bit easier, quicker and less messy. It’s ready when it’s not quite as sticky any more. If you find it very very sticky, you can add an extra tablespoon of flour.
If you’re using your stand mixer it’s easy as you can just let it run. But if you’re doing it by hand, get your kids to pull and push the dough for about 10 minutes until it stops being quite so sticky. This is quite a sticky dough however so you might find it easier if you use a dough scraper.
Pop the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes.
Prepare the fillings
Preheat your oven to 90C / 80C fan / 200F and turn off after 10 minutes or just before your put your rolls inside.
While your dough is resting, prepare the filling.
Start by measuring out the butter and make sure that it is soft enough so spread. If it’s not, pop it in the microwave until it has softened.
Measure out the mincemeat.
Make the mincemeat cinnamon rolls
Get your kids to sprinkle some flour down on your work surface and then help you roll the dough out so it forms a rectangle that around 15×9 inch (23 x 38 cm).
Spread the butter all over the top of the dough with the back of a spoon or a spatula, making sure your kids go right to the edges. We used a rubber spatula rather than a knife as it was a bit kinder on the dough. If you have a silicone pastry brush, that works as well, or the back of a spoon.
Next, spoon the mincemeat out and spread it evenly, all over the dough.
Roll up the mincemeat cinnamon rolls
Get your kids to help roll the dough up tightly starting from long end. Try and make the rolls as tight as possible. It can be useful to have more than one set of hands for this so you can make sure both ends are rolled up tightly.
Cut off the ends of the roll with a sharp knife to neaten the edge, then cut the remaining roll into 9 even pieces. It might be easier to make sure your kids cut the pieces evenly if you use a ruler to mark where the cuts are supposed to go first.
Bake the mincemeat cinnamon rolls
Put each piece or roll in your baking tray, swirl side facing up. You should end up with three rows of three rolls. Lightly cover your tin with foil.
Pop the mincemeat cinnamon rolls in the oven to rise. Make sure you remember to turn the oven off. Let it rise for 20 minutes or so.
After 20 minutes, keep the buns in the oven, remove the tin foil and turn the oven up to 190C / 180C Fan / 375F.
Bake the mincemeat rolls for 20-25 minutes. They’re ready when they have turned golden and are cooked right through to the bottom.
Remove the mincemeat cinnamon rolls from the oven and leave them to cool in the tin.
Add the icing drizzle
Once the rolls have cooled, mix up the icing sugar with milk until it’s a little bit runny but holds a bit of shape. Use a piping bag with a small nozzle or a freezer bag with a small hole cut in the corner to drizzle over the icing.
Leave the icing to set, remove the rolls from the tin, serve and enjoy.
Mincemeat cinnamon rolls
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Start by measuring out the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, and yeast) and add them into the bowl of your free-standing mixer or a large mixing bowl.When you add the salt, sugar and yeast, add them to separate sides of your bowl and make sure you use your finger to level the teaspoons so you add just the right amount. Set it aside for now.
- Measure the water and milk out and add them to a microwaveable bowl or jug. Measure the butter and cut it into a few small pieces then add it to the bowl.Pop your bowl with the milk/water/butter into in the microwave for approx 45-60 seconds until the butter has melted. Test that the mixture is warm rather than hot.Crack the egg into a small bowl then add it to your flour.
- Pour the milk/butter mixture into the flour.
- Using the dough hook on your free-standing mixer or just your hands, knead your mixture for 5-10 minutes. It'll will take a bit longer to do by hand. If you find it very very sticky, you can add an extra tablespoon of flour.If you’re using your stand mixer it's easy as you can just let it run. If you're doing it by hand, knead the dough for about 10 minutes until it stops being quite so sticky. This is quite a sticky dough however, especially at the start, so you might find it easier if you use a dough scraper.
- Pop the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it and leave it to rest for about 10 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 90C / 80C fan / 200F and turn off after 10 minutes or just before your put your rolls inside.
- While your dough is resting, prepare the filling. Start by measuring out the butter and make sure that it is soft enough so spread. If it’s not, pop it in the microwave until it has softened.
- Measure out the mincemeat.
- Sprinkle some flour down on your work surface and then roll the dough out so it forms a rectangle that around 15×9 inch (23 x 38 cm).
- Spread the butter all over the top of the dough with the back of a spoon or a spatula, making sure you go right to the edges.
- Next, spoon the mincemeat out and spread it evenly, all over the dough.
- Roll the dough up tightly starting from long end. Try and make the rolls as tight as possible.Cut off the ends of the roll with a sharp knife to neaten the edge, then cut the remaining roll into 9 even pieces.
- Put each piece or roll in your baking tray, swirl side facing up. You should end up with three rows of three rolls. Lightly cover your tin with foil.Pop the mincemeat cinnamon rolls in the oven to rise. Make sure you remember to turn the oven off. Let it rise for 20 minutes or so.
- After 20 minutes, keep the buns in the oven, remove the tin foil and turn the oven up to 190C / 180C Fan / 375F.Bake the mincemeat rolls for 20-25 minutes. They’re ready when they have turned golden and are cooked right through to the bottom.
- Remove the mincemeat cinnamon rolls from the oven and leave them to cool in the tin.
- Once the rolls have cooled, mix up the icing sugar with milk until it's a little bit runny but holds a bit of shape. Use a piping bag with a small nozzle or a freezer bag with a small hole cut in the corner to drizzle over the icing.
- Leave the icing to set, remove the rolls from the tin, serve and enjoy.
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