Last Friday my aunt and I spent a pleasant afternoon chopping and soaking fruit for this year’s Christmas pudding. This week the pudding will be made and steamed and put away in a dark cool place to mature. We’re keeping to time honoured traditions and beginning our festive baking 6-8 weeks before the big day. A sure sign that 2014 is slowly drawing to a close.

Preparing all that fruit for our pudding, I thought I may as well get a head start and also make jars of fruit mince in readiness for the inevitable onslaught of requests for home made fruit mince tarts. There are two favourite recipes that I have used for my fruit mince for over a decade now. Both uncomplicated, fuss free and very easy to prepare, shared in my post Christmas Pantry Essentials. Homemade Fruit Mince. Two Ways. Traditional And With A Modern Twist last year.

Of course, once made, there was no alternative. We simply had to taste test the batch before squirrelling those jars away in the back of the pantry cupboard. We could have simply swirled it through softened vanilla ice cream for dessert, but chose instead to make these deliciously festive fruit mince scrolls.

Festive Fruit Mince Scrolls
Makes 12

For The Sweet Dough
1/2 cup milk, warmed slightly
1 1/4 teaspoons yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted

For The Filling
4 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup (250g) fruit mince, home made (recipe here) or purchased

For The Glaze
1/4 cup flaked almonds
1/4 cup raspberry jam, warmed

To Prepare The Sweet Dough 
COMBINE milk, yeast, and sugar in a jug. Set aside for 5 minutes until frothy. For best results milk should be heated to blood temperature or about 37C.
STIR flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl and make a well in the centre.
ADD lightly beaten egg and melted butter to the frothy milk mixture. Pour into the well. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough comes together into a ball.
TURN dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10-15 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough will be stiff at first but will become soft and pliable as you knead it.
FORM into a smooth, round ball and place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave to stand in a warm place until dough has doubled in size, about an hour.

To Assemble And Bake The Scrolls
GREASE a 12 hole muffin tin and line the base of each hole with a small square of baking paper.
WHEN the dough has doubled in size, turn onto a lightly floured surface and roll out with a flour dusted rolling pin into a large rectangle approximately 30cm by 40cm wide and 1/2 cm thick.
SPREAD generously with butter and scatter evenly with fruit mince.
ROLL tightly starting with the long side of the rectangle. Trim the ends and divide the log into 12 equal portions with a very sharp knife or length of dental floss
PLACE the scrolls into a well-buttered  and base lined 12 hole muffin tin. Cover with a damp tea towel, and leave to rise in a warm place for half an hour, until scrolls have doubled in size.
MEANWHILE preheat oven to 180C, fan-forced.
WHEN the scrolls have doubled in size, uncover the muffin tray and bake in a hot oven, centre rack position for 15 minutes.
REMOVE  from oven and lightly brush scrolls with warmed raspberry jam and sprinkle with almond flakes.
RETURN tray to oven and bake for a further 5 minutes or until scrolls are golden and cooked through.
REMOVE from oven and cool on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar to serve.