Festive Mincemeat & Marzipan Cinnamon Buns: Your Ultimate Holiday Baking Delight

As the festive season approaches, many of us find ourselves with an abundance of traditional Christmas ingredients, often leading to a delightful dilemma: how to use them all up creatively? After crafting my own homemade mincemeat recently, I faced precisely this challenge. While mince pies are undeniably a Christmas classic, even the most devoted fan can only eat so many. This prompted a delicious quest to discover new and exciting ways to incorporate that rich, spiced fruity goodness into other festive treats.

The solution? These extraordinary Mincemeat and Marzipan Cinnamon Buns. Not only do they elegantly address the “leftover mincemeat” conundrum, but they also offer a brilliant opportunity to utilize any surplus marzipan, perhaps from covering your Christmas cake. This recipe transforms humble leftovers into a truly spectacular and unique holiday bake, destined to become a new family favorite.

Why These Mincemeat & Marzipan Buns Are a Must-Try This Christmas

These buns are far more than just a clever way to use up ingredients; they are a celebration of festive flavors and textures. Imagine waking up on Christmas morning to the scent of warm, spiced bread, or enjoying a cozy afternoon with a sweet treat that perfectly embodies the spirit of the holidays. These mincemeat and marzipan cinnamon buns offer a wonderful festive breakfast, a delightful brunch centerpiece, or a comforting snack, and the best part is, they’re surprisingly easy to make.

The beauty of this recipe lies in its flexibility. You can dedicate a single day to the entire baking process, or you can spread the joy over two days. My preferred method involves preparing the dough the day before, allowing it to undergo a slow, overnight rise in the fridge. This cold fermentation not only deepens the flavor of the dough but also makes for a more relaxed baking experience when you’re ready to shape and bake your buns.

The foundation of these delectable buns is a soft, slightly sweet, and wonderfully enriched bread dough, infused with a hint of vanilla. This tender dough provides the perfect canvas for the festive filling. The filling itself is a simple yet incredibly effective combination: a generous layer of rich mincemeat, a sprinkle of warm cinnamon, and a scattering of sweet, chewy marzipan cubes. Each bite delivers a harmonious blend of traditional Christmas spices and almondy goodness.

To crown these festive creations, a simple yet vibrant orange glaze is drizzled generously over the top. This not only adds a beautiful sheen and makes the buns instantly more appealing but also introduces a bright, zesty orange flavor that beautifully complements the richness of the mincemeat and marzipan, tying all the holiday flavors together.

Crafting the Perfect Enriched Bread Dough

The secret to truly irresistible cinnamon buns lies in an enriched dough. Unlike leaner bread doughs, an enriched dough incorporates fats (like butter), sugar, and eggs, resulting in a softer crumb, a richer flavor, and a more tender texture. For these mincemeat and marzipan buns, we use milk, vanilla extract, butter, and a large egg to achieve this luxurious quality.

Understanding the Dough Ingredients

• Full-Fat Milk: Adds richness and moisture. Scalding the milk first and then allowing it to cool helps improve the dough’s texture, making it softer and giving it a better rise. This process alters milk proteins, preventing them from interfering with gluten development.
• Vanilla Extract: A subtle but essential addition that enhances the overall sweetness and aroma of the dough, providing a comforting warmth.
• Butter: Contributes to the tender texture, adds flavor, and helps keep the buns moist. Using cubed butter helps it melt evenly when heated with the milk.
• Strong White Bread Flour: Contains a higher protein content, which is crucial for developing strong gluten networks. This gluten structure is what gives the buns their characteristic chewiness and helps them hold their shape.
• Caster Sugar: Sweetens the dough and provides food for the yeast, aiding in fermentation.
• Fast-Action Yeast: The leavening agent that makes the dough rise, creating a light and airy texture.
• Salt: Essential for flavor balance and also helps to control yeast activity, preventing the dough from over-proofing too quickly.
• Large Egg: Adds richness, helps with binding, contributes to the golden color of the crust, and provides additional moisture and structure to the dough. For a vegan option, a flax egg works beautifully as a substitute, ensuring everyone can enjoy these festive treats.

The Dough-Making Process

Beginning the dough involves gently heating the milk, vanilla, and butter until the butter has just melted and the mixture reaches a lukewarm temperature. This step is critical; if the liquid is too hot, it will kill the yeast, and if it’s too cold, the yeast won’t activate properly. Once at the ideal temperature, combine it with the dry ingredients and egg in a large bowl. Stir until a shaggy dough forms, then turn it out onto a clean, un-floured surface. Kneading is a therapeutic and crucial step; for about 10 minutes, you’ll work the dough until it becomes wonderfully smooth and elastic. This develops the gluten, creating the perfect foundation for your buns.

After kneading, the dough needs its first rise. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover it, and let it double in size in a warm spot for an hour or two. Alternatively, for a deeper flavor and added convenience, pop it in the fridge overnight. This slow, cold rise makes the dough easier to handle and imbues the final buns with an even more complex taste.

The Irresistible Mincemeat, Marzipan & Cinnamon Filling

The heart of these cinnamon buns is their incredibly flavorful filling, a delightful marriage of classic Christmas tastes. Mincemeat, with its historical roots and rich blend of dried fruits, spices, and sometimes spirits, is synonymous with holiday baking. Whether you use a store-bought variety or opt for a homemade vegetarian mincemeat, its complex flavor profile provides a deep, festive base.

Marzipan, a sweet almond paste, brings a unique texture and flavor. Its distinct nutty sweetness and slightly chewy consistency perfectly complement the soft bread and the fruitiness of the mincemeat. By dicing the marzipan into small cubes, you ensure that its delightful taste is distributed evenly throughout each bun, creating pockets of almondy goodness.

A generous sprinkle of cinnamon ties these elements together, enhancing the existing spices in the mincemeat and adding that quintessential warm, aromatic touch expected in a classic cinnamon bun. When the dough is rolled out, the mincemeat is spread, followed by the cinnamon and marzipan, ensuring every part of the bun is infused with holiday cheer.

Glaze of Glory: The Zesty Orange Finish

No cinnamon bun is truly complete without a luscious glaze, and for these festive treats, an orange glaze is the perfect crowning touch. Made simply from sifted icing (powdered) sugar and fresh orange juice, this glaze adds several key elements:

• Visual Appeal: The bright white drizzle contrasted with the golden-brown buns makes them instantly more inviting and festive.
• Flavor Balance: The fresh, zesty notes of orange juice cut through the richness of the mincemeat and marzipan, providing a refreshing counterpoint that prevents the buns from being overly sweet.
• Moisture and Shine: It adds an extra layer of moisture and a beautiful glossy finish, making each bun even more tempting.

The glaze is best applied when the buns have cooled to lukewarm, allowing it to set nicely without melting completely, giving that classic, slightly firm but still yielding texture.

Essential Kitchen Tools for Effortless Baking: Joseph Joseph Highlights

Achieving baking perfection is often made easier and more enjoyable with the right tools. I recently had the pleasure of trying out some brilliant products from Joseph Joseph, and they proved invaluable in the creation of these Mincemeat and Marzipan Cinnamon Buns, as well as many other baking projects. These tools are designed not just for functionality but also for thoughtful innovation, making your time in the kitchen smoother and more efficient.

1. The Non-Slip Silicone Pastry Mat

First up is the non-slip silicone pastry mat. This mat is a game-changer for anyone who regularly works with dough, pastry, or icing. You simply place it on your worktop, and it provides a perfectly stable, non-stick surface for rolling. It effectively saves your kitchen counter from getting covered in flour and sticky dough, drastically simplifying cleanup. What truly sets this mat apart are its integrated measurements – both circular and square, in inches and centimeters. This feature eliminates the guesswork and the frantic search for a ruler when you need to roll dough to a precise size, as was the case for our rectangular bun dough.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found myself rummaging through drawers with flour-dusted hands trying to find a ruler in the middle of a pastry-making session! This mat solves that problem beautifully. Furthermore, it rolls up neatly for easy storage and even comes with a lockable strap, ensuring it stays rolled up and organized in your cupboard.

2. The Adjustable Rolling Pin

Next in line is the adjustable rolling pin. This wooden rolling pin, another smartly designed tool, features removable rings on either end. These rings come in different thicknesses (ranging from 10mm down to 2mm) and raise the rolling pin surface by a corresponding amount. This ingenious design allows you to effortlessly roll out dough or pastry to a perfectly specific and even thickness every single time. Achieving a consistent thickness is often one of the trickiest parts of baking, particularly with doughs like the one for our cinnamon buns, where uniformity affects both appearance and baking time.

The adjustable rolling pin makes this task incredibly straightforward, ensuring your dough is rolled to the exact 5mm thickness required for these buns, which is crucial for even cooking and the perfect spiral. It truly removes the frustration of unevenly baked goods and inconsistent results.

3. The 2-in-1 Dough Cutter and Bowl Scraper

Finally, the two-in-one dough cutter and bowl scraper is a multi-functional marvel. The bowl scraper component is made from flexible silicone, allowing you to efficiently scrape every last drop of batter or dough out of a bowl. This not only prevents waste but also makes your cleaning job much easier. The dough cutter, crafted from solid metal, slices through dough with remarkable ease, making tasks like dividing your bun log into 12 even pieces incredibly simple. Like the pastry mat, it also features etched measurements on its blade edge, allowing for precise division of dough.

Beyond cutting, it’s an indispensable tool for scraping off any stubborn bits of dough that might stick to your worksurface, keeping your area tidy as you work. The two pieces are magnetically designed to stick together, ensuring neat and compact storage, a small but significant detail that speaks to Joseph Joseph’s commitment to thoughtful design.

Baking & Serving Your Festive Buns

Once your dough has completed its second rise and is beautifully puffy, it’s time for the final act. Preheat your oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4. Bake the buns for approximately 30 minutes, or until they achieve a gorgeous golden hue and their internal temperature reaches at least 94C (200F). Keep a watchful eye on them; if the tops begin to brown too quickly, a loose cover of tin foil can prevent burning while the inside finishes baking.

Allow the buns to cool slightly in the muffin tin until they are lukewarm, then carefully transfer them to a wire rack. This is the ideal moment to drizzle your zesty orange glaze over them. Serve these warm, aromatic buns immediately for the ultimate treat. They pair wonderfully with a hot cup of coffee, a steaming mug of tea, or even a glass of mulled wine for an extra festive touch. Store any leftover buns in an airtight container to maintain their freshness.

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I was sent some free products but I was not paid to write this post and all opinions remain my own.