Baking With Jeanette: How to Make Mince Pie Bakewell Squares & Christmas Pudding Scones

Welcome to Baking With Jeanette: How to Make Mince Pie Bakewell Squares & Christmas Pudding Scones
#christmaspudding #mincepies #scones

I do not own the rights to these recipes or images used you can find them here;
https://thebakingexplorer.com/mince-p...
https://gingerandpickles.co.uk/blogs/...

For the Bakewell Squares
Ingredients
For the pastry
150 g Butter cold
300 g Plain flour
35 g Caster sugar
3 tbsp Cold water or milk

For the sponge
250 g Baking spread softened
250 g Golden caster sugar or regular caster sugar
4 Eggs large
1 tsp Almond extract
125 g Self raising flour
125 g Ground almonds
½ tsp Baking powder
400 g jar of Mincemeat
50 g Flaked almonds
For the icing
2 heaped tbsp Icing sugar
Water to make a thick paste

Instructions
Grease and line a 12" x 9" traybake tin
Start by making the pastry. Rub the butter into the plain flour and caster sugar until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can use your fingers or a food processor to do this. Add the cold water (or milk) and bring the mixture together to form a dough
Tip the dough into the tin and spread it out into an even layer, pressing it down with your fingers until compact and even. Prick it all over with a fork. Chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, pre-heat your oven to 160C Fan/180C/350F/Gas Mark 4
Bake the pastry for 20 minutes, or until lightly golden on the edges, take it out and set aside. Leave your oven on
Make the sponge by mixing the butter and the golden caster sugar together, ideally using an electric mixer for 3 minutes
Mix in the eggs and almond extractGently whisk or fold in the ground almonds, baking powder and self raising flour
Spoon the mincemeat over the pastry base and spread it out
Gently spoon the cake batter over the top and spread it out into an even layer. Sprinkle over the toasted flaked almonds
Bake for 35 minutes or until it is a lovely golden brown all over, and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool completely in the tin
When fully cool, mix the icing sugar with water and pipe it over the sponge in a zig zag pattern

For the Scones
Ingredients:
450g self raising flour
110g butter
85g caster sugar
240ml milk
70g Christmas pudding
0.5 teaspoon of mixed spice
Method:
Preheat your oven to 220c or 200c if you're using a fan oven. Prepare a baking tray by lining it with baking paper.
In a large mixing bowl, crumble together the self-raising flour, butter, caster sugar, and mixed spice. Use your fingers to create a breadcrumb-like texture.
Gradually add the milk to your crumbed mixture, mixing continuously until a dough forms. Be careful not to overwork the dough as it can make the scones tough.
Crumble in the Christmas pudding and gently fold it into the dough until it's just combined.
Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead it into a 2cm thick round. Use a circular cutter to cut out your scones and transfer them to your prepared baking tray.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until the scones have risen and are lightly golden.
Allow the Christmas pudding scones to cool slightly on the tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool further. These scones are best served warm with a dollop of clotted cream (or brandy butter!) and a sprinkle of icing sugar for that extra festive touch.