Danish Anyone?

For so many years I have been doing desserts for Christmas parties. Most years I have done cookie trays, pies, and cakes. I wanted to try something different this year because it wasn’t the usual dinner party. It was cocktail style, so we could do crafts and play games.

When I was in high school, I use to work at a bakery that made these amazing Danish. I miss them so much I thought why not re-create them. I chose not to do a traditional dough instead I used what I call a quick puff dough. This is a flaky buttery dough that can be used for croissants, Danish, and even cheese twists. It is much faster to use this recipe because you bypass the yeast process as well as the folding in of sheet butter. I still use the folding to build the buttery layers and get as close to the original product as possible.

Quick Puff Dough Recipe

All Purpose Flour             7 ounces

Cake Flour                        7 ounces

 (If you only have A.P Flour use only 12 ounces)

Butter, cold & diced        10 ounces

Salt                                   2 teaspoon

Lemon Juice                     1 teaspoon

Water, cold                        7 fluid ounces

1. Sift together dry ingredients.
2. Cut in butter just slightly, keep in larger chunks.
3. Pour in lemon juice and water to bring dough together.
4. This will seem a lot like pie dough, press all together and allow to refrigerate at least two hours. Better if left overnight.

Begin the folding technique

1. Lightly flour surface roll dough to ½” thick.
2. Brush off excess flour and fold into thirds.
3. Again, brush off excess flour and fold in half.
4. Repeat this folding process 3-4 times. Allow dough to refrigerate at least 1 hour between each turn. You will know it’s ready when the butter disappears into the dough.
5. Once your dough in ready you can make a multitude of shapes. Here are a few that I chose to do. You can look online or in books for my fun ideas.
6. Now that you have your shapes brush with egg whites and bake at 350°F until golden brown. Always use parchment paper to prevent any burning on the bottom of the Danish. 

Printable Quick Dough Recipe

Flavors

Cream cheese

Cream cheese       2 pounds

Egg                       1 each

Vanilla                  1 teaspoon

Raspberry

Raspberry Jam     ½ - 8 ounce

Cinnamon Sugar

Use as needed based on how many you make.

When these lovely babies are all send and done, I like to drizzle them with a little sweet glaze.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

Powdered Sugar      1 cup

Lemon Juice            1 teaspoon

Vanilla                     1 teaspoon

Milk 1 Tablespoon (give or take for desired thickness).

Take these Danish and plate them up and serve as a delicious finger food dessert. Surprise the family with a traditional technical treat.