Breakfast Danish!

I love Danish, but had never made homemade Danish, until now. This is SO Worth your efforts  and really not hard to achieve! These were delicious! I’ll never go back!  For the Danish dough, I went to my favorite book for these kind of things, “Baking with Julia”! This book is invaluable to me.

Danish Pastry

From: Baking with Julia

Makes 2 pounds of Dough

Traditionally, Danish pastry, a slightly sweet, very rich yeast dough is made the way croissant dough or its unyeasted cousin, puff pastry, is made.  That is, you make a dough that acts as a wrapper for a block of butter, then you roll and fold the dough several times to create layers. Here, in a quick method, the butter is cut into the dough in the food processor, making it easier and faster to work; the yeast and liquid are mixed into the dough and then the chilled dough is given the traditional rolling and folds. Don’t think your cheating by taking the fast track – this is the way its done these days all over Denmark, where they know great Danish when they taste it.  This is the recipe for the basic dough from which many pastries can be made.

1/4 Cup Warm Water (105 – 115 degrees F.)

2 1/2 tsp. Active Dry Yeast

1/2 Cup Milk, at room Temperature

1 Large Egg, at room temperature

1/4 Cup Sugar

1 tsp. Salt

2 1/2 cups Unbleached All Purpose Flour

2 Sticks (8 oz.) Cold Unsalted Butter

Mixing the dough:  Pour the water into a large bowl, sprinkle over the yeast, and  let it soften for a minute.  Add the milk, egg, sugar, and salt and whisk to mix; set aside.

Put the flour in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Cut the butter into 1/4 inch thick slices and drop them onto the flour.  Pulse 8 to 10 times, until the butter is cut into pieces that are about 1/2 inch in diameter.  Don’t over do this – the pieces must not be smaller than 1/2 inch.  Empty the contents of the food processor into the bowl with the yeast and, working with a rubber spatula, very gently turn the mixture over, scraping the bowl as needed, just until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Again, don’t be too energetic – the butter must remain in discrete pieces so that you will produce a flaky pastry, not a bread or cookie dough.

Chilling the dough:  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough overnight (or up to 4 days, if the better suits your schedule).

Rolling and folding:  Lightly flour a work surface (a cool surface, such as marble, is ideal), turn the dough out onto it, and dust lightly with flour.  Using the palm of your hands, pat the dough into a rough square. Then roll it into a square about 16 inches on a side. (A French rolling-pin, one without handles, is the best here.)  Fold the dough into thirds, like a business letter, and turn it so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. (If at any time the dough gets too soft to roll, just cover it with plastic wrap and pop it into the refrigerator for a quick chill.   Roll the dough out again, this time into a long narrow rectangle, about 10 inches wide by 24 inches long.  Fold the rectangle in thirds again, turn it so the  fold is to your left, and roll it into a 20 inch square.  Fold the square in thirds, like a business letter, so that you have a rectangle, turning it so that the closed fold is to your left, and, once more, roll the dough into a long narrow rectangle, 10 inches wide by 24 inches long.  Fold in thirds again, wrap the dough well in plastic, and chill it for at least 30 minutes, or for as long as 2 days.  (Depending on what you plan to do with the dough, you might want to divide it in half now.)  The dough is now ready to be shaped, filled, and baked, following the recipes of your choice.

Storing:  The dough can be kept covered in the refrigerator for 4 days or wrapped airtight and frozen for 1 month; thaw overnight, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.

For the fillings, I used both of the fillings listed below. Both were DELICIOUS!! Try them out.

Danish Almond Filling

1 Cup Blanched Almond

1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar

2 Tbsp. Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature

1/2 tsp. Almond Extract

1 Large Egg White, Lightly Beaten

1.  Put almonds, sugar, and butter into food processor.  Process until almonds are finely ground, scraping bowl as necessary.

2.  Add almond extract and 2 Tablespoons of the beaten egg white.  Process until mixed.

3.  Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator until needed. (Up to one week.)  Bring to room temperature before using.

Cheese Filling:

8 oz. Cream Cheese,  Room Temperature

1/3 Cup Sugar

2 Xtra Large Egg Yolks, Room Temperature

2 Tbsp. Ricotta Cheese

1/4 tsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Grated Lemon Peel

Place cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the  paddle attachment, and cream together on low speed, until smooth.  With the mixer on low, add the egg yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest. Mix just until combined.  Don’t whip!  Fill Danish!

Cinnamon Buns

My family loves Cinnamon buns. Tradition was made with this recipe, having cinnamon Rolls made every year for Christmas Day morning.  This has been my go to Cinnamon Roll recipe for years, found on Allrecipes.com I remember for years, every time we went to the mall and there was a Cinnabun shop in it, I had to go check it out!  (And yes, eat one!)  Christmas is getting close, and I thought I’d share the recipe for my favorite Cinnamon Roll Recipe. (The next one I have to try is the Bread Maker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.  I hear those are top dog!)

Clone of a Cinnabun

From: Allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened
• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16×21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9×13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Cream Puffs!

Baked, Crispy, Hallow Shells.  Sweet, Creamy, smooth,  rich & thick  Vanilla and Chocolate Pastry Cream!  And lightly sweetened billowy clouds of whipped cream! Yumm!! Am I making you crave Cream Puffs?  Mark (Mr. Fire) has been requesting these for a while.  He likes pastry type desserts. Cream Horns, Puff Pastry, Pies, Cream Puffs, Eclairs, you get the idea.  Delectable Dessert!  And that it was!

Choux Pastry

200 grams Milk

80 grams Butter, cut into pieces

140 grams Flour

200 grams Eggs (4-5) I used 5

2 tsp. Sugar

1/2 tsp. Salt

1. Preheat oven 400 degrees F.

2. Cut butter into small cubes (This will make melting faster)

3. Sift the flour.

4. In a medium saucepan combine milk, butter, sugar and salt. Bring to a rolling boil. Add all of the flour all at once. Turn heat to low and cook stirring constantly until dough forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. This is an important step, as it dries the mixture out before adding the eggs.  Let mixture cool slightly in the bowl of a stand mixer running on low for 2-3 minutes.  Beat the eggs together in a bowl until well mixed. Adding a little bit of egg at a time, beat the mixture until the egg is completely incorporated before adding more.  Please don’t rush this step. The choux pastry dough is ready when it pulls away from the side of the bowl. This could take up to 10 minutes.   Spoon dough into a pastry bag, and pipe puffs onto a silpat lined baking sheet. Mist dough lightly with a spray bottle of water.  Bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. When they get brown, turn the heat down to 350 degrees and bake for 20 minutes more.  Puffs should be golden brown, crisp and dry and sound hallow inside. Cut the top of a puff if needed to ensure they are hallow and cooked through. (It’s ok to have a little bit of dough moist, you can pull the dough out of the inside.) Let cool completely. Store unfilled Cream Puff shells in an air tight container or freeze them until needed. Fill with pastry cream or/and whipped cream and  powdered sugar.

I like the recipe for Pastry Cream from Joy of Baking.  I made two batches of pastry cream one vanilla and one chocolate by adding 2 oz. of chopped bittersweet chocolate.

Whipped Cream

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1/4 cup Sugar (You can use powdered sugar, but you will need to sift it first.)

1/2 tsp. Vanilla

In a medium bowl,  beat whipped cream until semi stiff. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie!

My Father in law loves Rhubarb and Strawberry. I’ve made him a cobbler before, but have not made him a pie. I came across a recipe for a Rhubarb Strawberry Pie and thought I would make it for him. Couple of things here, I didn’t get a picture of the finished pie. I thought Mark had taken a picture, and he thought I had taken a picture. But I do have a picture of the pie before it went in the oven. Trust me, It was a beautiful golden brown. It looked awesome!  The original recipe  did not cook the filling before putting it in the pie shell. I cooked mine first and than finished it in the oven. Worked out great!  They also gave the pie a lattice topping, where as I used a full crust on the top. Make the pie according to your tastes.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Adapted From: Epicurious.com

Lattice-Topped Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

For Crust:
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
2 1/2 tsp. Sugar
3/4 tsp. Salt
2/3 Cup Chilled Solid Vegetable Shortening (I used Crisco), Cut into pieces
1/2 Cup plus 2 Tbsp. (1 1/4 sticks) Unsalted Butter, Cut into pieces
10 Tbsp. Ice Water (About, start with a smaller amount and add as needed)

Filling:
2 lbs. Strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 lbs. Rhubarb, Cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/4 Cup Cornstarch
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1/4 tsp. Salt

1 Large Egg yolk, beaten to blend with 1 tsp. water (for glaze)
Coarse Sugar (Optional)

Make Crust:
Combine flour, sugar and salt in processor. Using on/off turns, cut in vegetable shortening and butter until coarse meal forms. Blend in enough ice water 2 Tbsp. at a time, to form moist clumps. Gather dough into a ball and cut in half. Flatten each half into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 1 hour. (Can be made on day in advance). Keep Chilled. Let dough soften slightly at room temperature until ready to roll. Refrigerate pie plate and crust until ready to bake.

Make filling:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine first 7 ingredients into a large pan. Bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour filling mixture into prepared pie shell and top with top crust. (Whatever kind you would like, I just used a top crust, but you can make it a lattice if you so desire). Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar if desired. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes, turn heat down to 350 degrees and bake for another 30 minutes, or until top of pie is golden brown. Cool Completely.

The recipient of the pie, says it’s a 5 out of 5!!