• Make the dough. Heat the milk for a few seconds in a microwave until just warm. Add the sugar and yeast and whisk to combine. Let it stand for 4-5 minutes until the yeast is frothy. Add the egg and lightly whisk together. Set aside.
  ¾ cup (180ml) whole milk, 2 ¼ tsp dry active yeast, ⅓ cup (70g) sugar, 1 large egg
• Put the flour and salt in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the cubed butter and briefly pulse a few times until mixture resembles chunky breadcrumbs. You want the butter to remain in pea sized pieces.
  1 tsp salt, 2 cups (250g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (65g) white bread flour, 2 sticks (230g) unsalted butter
• Put the flour mixture in a large bowl and add the milk/yeast mixture. Gently combine using a spatula until the dough comes together but don't overwork it.
• Line your worktop with two large pieces of plastic wrap. Tip the dough onto it, sprinkle with flour and shape dough into a square. Put in the freezer for 30–45 minutes, or until the dough is fairly firm but still pliable.
• Liberally dust your worktop and rolling pin with flour. Roll your dough out to a rectangle roughly three times as long as it is wide.
• Do a letter fold. Rotate the dough by a quarter turn and flip it over so the seams are underneath. Roll it out again and repeat the rolling and folding at least 4 times, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
• Shape the dough into a square and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for a minimum of 4 hours, ideally overnight. You are now ready to use it.

Make the filling and shape the pastries

• Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line two large baking trays with parchment paper.
• Put all the ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients form a fairly coarse paste. Set aside until needed.
  3 ½ oz (100g) pecan halves, 4 tbsp dark brown sugar, 2 tbsp (30g) unsalted butter, 6 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, pinch salt
• Cut the dough in half. Cover the piece you aren’t using with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until needed.
• Dust your worktop and rolling pin with flour. Roll the dough out to about 3/16 to ¼ inch (4–6mm) thick and trim the edges.
• To create pinwheels, cut the dough into squares and make small cuts from the corner toward the center of each square.
• Place about 2 tsp of the filling in the middle and fold every other point in towards the middle. Repeat with remaining dough – you should have enough for 12 pinwheels.

Chill and brush with egg wash

• Transfer onto the baking tray, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let them rise at room temperature for 30 minutes. Chill in the fridge for 15 minutes before baking.
• Lightly beat the egg and milk to make the egg wash. Brush the pastries with the egg wash and sprinkle the middle with pearl sugar. (See Note 1)
  1 large egg, 1 tsp whole milk, 12 tsp pearl sugar

Bake (in batches)

• Bake for 15-17 minutes until the pastries are puffed and deeply golden. Transfer baked pastries to a cooling rack.

Glaze and serve

• Mix all the ingredients for the glaze together, thinning with water or milk as needed, until thick but pourable. Use a spoon to drizzle the glaze over the pastries.
  5 tbsp powdered sugar, 2 tbsp maple syrup, 1 tsp vanilla extract, milk or water