Looking for a tasty dessert or just an exciting one? Check out this Danish pastry recipe that will give the world a twist in an instant!

Danish pastry or Danish, for short, is an although not apparent but multilayered , laminated sweet pastry made with the Viennese method. The base of the pastry is a puff pastry that was brought to Denmark by Austrian bakers and apparently it tickled the Danes fancy so much that it was developed into a category on its own.

So, it doesn’t come as a surprise that Danes don’t call it Danish pastry but rather referring to its origin “Viennese Bread”.

This is the same pastry that the French use for their croissant, although they can be a bit more picky about the right order for folding and turning or the water content of butter but they share the same roots.

Danish pastry was brought to the United States by Danish immigrants where finally it didn’t have to bow to tradition or expectations so it could claim its true title as Danish pastry.

The rest of the world didn’t really care about its origin and in many places, there aren’t collective name for sweet pastries made out of puff pastry, but people simply refer to them, similarly to the Danish, by only their individual names (Spandauers) or by their shapes (Snails) or by their flavor (Vanilla roll).

The biggest challenge, especially on any kind of diet, will be to decide which one will be worthy of our attention and which must be left for someone else to gain.

Ingredients

(makes 24)

Dough

4 tablespoons /50g Butter (all together we’ll use 2 cups (4 sticks) / 450g Butter)
5½ cups / 600g Flour
2 teaspoon / 10g Fresh yeast
2½ teaspoons / 15 Salt
1 teaspoon / 1g Cardamon
1 teaspoon / 5ml Vanilla extract
1 cup / 240ml Milk
3 medium / 150g Eggs

Filling

28 tablespoons / 400g Butter

Cottage cheese filling

8 oz / 200g Cottage cheese
3 tablespoons / 45ml Honey or sweetener of choice
1 medium / 55g Egg
¼ teaspoon / 2g Salt
1 teaspoon / 5ml Vanilla extract

Jam filling

16 tablespoons / 240g Jam of choice

Topping

1 medium / 30g Egg white
1 tablespoon / 15ml Water
Crushed nuts for decoration (optional)

How to make Danish pastry

Dough

Knead butter, flour, fresh yeast, salt, cardamon, vanilla extract, milk and eggs until it comes together into a uniform sticky textured dough. Cover the dough and let’s get on with the remaining butter.
Halve the filling butter. Slice one butter up then arrange the pieces onto a parchment paper in a 6″ x 9″ / 15cm x 22cm rectangle shape. Use a parchment paper that is about double the size of the butter rectangle because we need to close it up.
Fold the sides of the parchment paper on then turn it upside down.
Spread the butter into a nice squarish shape with a rolling pin by gently hitting the butter and rolling it to all corners. Once it’s done, do it with the other half of the butter so we’ll end up with 2 sheets of butter. Keep them in the fridge until they are going to be used.
Scrape the dough onto a floured work surface.
Flour the top of the dough then roll it out into a 12″ x 24″ / 30cm x 60cm rectangle.
Place one of the butter sheet onto the center third of the dough.
Fold one side of the dough over the butter to cover it.
Place the another butter sheet on top.
Fold the other side of the dough over the butter.
Press together the open ends so the butter is totally enclosed by the dough.
Turn the dough 90° so now the longest side is closest to us. Sprinkle flour on top.
Roll the dough into about a 10″ x 24″ / 25cm x 60cm rectangle.
Fold the two sides into the middle.
Fold one side over the other to get a 6″ x 10″ / 15cm x 25cm rectangle. Measurements values are for reference only, don’t stress out if it’s slightly different.
Roll the dough into a plastic wrap or parchment paper and put it in the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.
Take the dough out of the fridge, and on a floured surface, roll the dough into about a 10″ x 24″ / 25cm x 60cm rectangle, just like in step 13.
Fold the two sides into the middle then one side over the other, just like in step 14 and 15 which will create a roughly 7″ x 12″ / 18cm x 30cm rectangle.
Let’s do the folding one more all together the third time. Turn the dough 90° so now the longest side is closest to us. Sprinkle flour on top, roll it out then fold the two sides into the middle. Fold one side over the other, just like in step 14 and 15 which will create a roughly 7″ x 12″ / 18cm x 30cm rectangle. Wrap the dough then chill for at least 2 hours or even better overnight for a slow and steady rise.

Danish-pastry-recipe-Process-19-SunCakeMom

Fillings

Preparing the ingredients doesn’t require any special treatment. Just mix them together and they are ready to be filled in or in case of jam just get a spoon ready.

Assembly

Take the dough out of the fridge and cut one third off. Put the rest back.
Roll the dough into an 8″ x 16″ / 20cm x 40cm rectangle.
Cut the rolled out dough into about 4″ / 10cm squares.

Squares

Fill the squares with filing.
Pinch the opposite corners together.

Stars

Place some filling onto the middle of the squares. It’s highly advisable to place the dough onto a parchment lined baking tray now.
Cut the dough from each corner towards the middle. Mind the cuts don’t reach the filling.
Pinch together the opposite corners as seen on the photo.

Cocks comb

Spread some filling across the middle. It’s highly advisable to place the dough onto a parchment lined baking tray now.
Fold one side over the other.
Cut the cocks comb.

Baking

Place the assembled danish pastry onto a parchment lined baking sheet. It’s advisable to assemble some of them directly on the parchment paper lined baking tray so we don’t need to move them. Cover them with a slightly moist kitchen cloth, place them into a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C corner to raise.
Brush them with egg wash.
Place the danish pastries into the middle rack of a 400°F / 200°C preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 – 20 minutes.