Danish Pastry

Danish Pastry

Danish pastries with raspberry jam, vanilla cream and icing on top are the highlight of any tea party. To ensure the pastry is really crispy, spend plenty of time rolling the butter into the dough.

Ingredients

50 g Yeast
250 ml Arla Cravendale Semi-skimmed milk
2 Eggs
40 g Caster sugar
1 pinch Salt
520 g Wheat flour
400 g Butter, unsalted

Custard

200 ml Semi-skimmed milk
2 Egg yolks
2 tbsp Caster sugar
2 tbsp Potato flour
1 tsp Vanilla sugar
15 g Butter

Filling

Vanilla cream
1 Jar of jam

Glaze

160 g Icing sugar
1½ tbsp Water

Instructions

Step 1

  • Crumble the yeast in a bowl. Add milk, eggs, sugar, salt and most of the flour. Work into a smooth dough. Leave to stand for 10 minutes.

Step 2

  • Cut the butter into 10-12 slices. Put the dough on a floured workbench and roll it out into a rectangle, about 30x45 cm.

Step 3

  • Put the butter in half the dough and fold over the other half. Pinch the edges firmly together. Turn the dough one quarter turn so that you have the folded edge towards you.

Step 4

  • Carefully roll out the dough to a 2 cm thick rectangle. Fold the dough into three parts and turn it one quarter turn so that you have the longer side nearest you.

Step 5

  • Roll out the dough again into a rectangle, about 2 cm thick. Fold it together in three parts. Roll out and fold it together two more times. Put the dough folded and covered in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Step 6

  • Meanwhile, make the vanilla cream. Whisk together milk, egg yolks, sugar and flour in a saucepan. Cook on a low heat until the cream begins to thicken. Remove from the heat and whisk down vanilla sugar and butter. Cool in a cold water bath. Stirring it from time to time.

Step 7

  • Remove the dough and roll it out on a lightly floured workbench to an about 20x40cm and just over 1 cm thick. Cut about 1 ½ cm thick strips. Twist and twirl them into eights with the seam underneath in the middle of the eighth. Place them on a baking tray (not too close together) on baking paper and allow to rest covered for about 30 minutes.

Step 8

  • Heat the oven to 225°. Add one spoon of vanilla cream to one half of pastry and one dollop of jam in the other. Bake in the middle of the oven 8-10 minutes. Let cool.

Step 9

  • Stir icing sugar and water into a thick glaze. Drizzle the glaze over the Danish pastries when serving.
Enjoy!

Top Tip

To ensure the pastry is really crispy, spend plenty of time rolling the butter into the dough.

https://www.arlafoods.co.uk/recipes/danish-pastry/