Mincemeat Palmiers

Gentle Reader ~~~ ooops! A while back I promised to share my Mincemeat Palmier idea. So, I'm sitting here today, the day before St Valentine's Day, curled up in front of the fire nursing a nasty head cold ~~~ feeling a tad sorry for myself as the weather is horrible and the world looks as glum as I am feeling today ~~~

I did make a mistake, as you will see, but they are very easy, and great for using up those odds and ends that haunt the fridge and freezer after Christmas, but, of course, you can make them at any time of year.  Sometimes they are called Elephant Ears or French Hearts ~~~ 

I made mine using up leftover frozen puff pastry {which I always keep on hand in the freezer for emergencies} and a half jar of mincemeat that was languishing in the fridge ~~~

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

I used a half jar of mincemeat, an orange, bought puff pastry, and some left over marzipan from icing the cake ~~~

I always add extra spice to everything ~ I love spice, but of course this is optional ~~~

In a small bowl, place the contents of the jar of mincemeat and the grated rind of the orange ~~~

Add your spice if using and grated marzipan ~~~

Unroll the puff pastry and spread the mixture across, leaving a small margin on the longer sides ~~~ these are a little over filled, and you will see what happened ~~~

 Roll up the edges to nearly meet in the middle of the pastry ~~~

Fold in half ~~~

Cut into pieces, about 1/2 an inch ~~~

Place cut side down on a baking tray ~~~

Bake in the oven for about 15~20 minutes until all puffed up and golden ~~~ as you will see, a lot of my filling oozed out because I'd overstuffed them. I didn't mind though, they were not for anyone else, only me, and they tasted really yummy and didn't last long ~~~ {I'm not afraid of showing what went wrong, we learn from our mistakes!}

Plated up with a light dusting of icing sugar snow to mask the imperfections ~~~

I might not get 10/10 for looks but they tasted just fine and it is better than wasting the ingredients!  Next time I'll get them right!

In the UK, Valentine's Day is a celebration of the love between couples, but in the spirit of an American Valentine's Day ~ where it is for everyone to share love and friendship ~ I send you all greetings for a Very Happy St Valentine's Day and thank you for the friendship we share through our online writings and photographs ~~~