Danish Cinnamon Bars Food

DANISH PASTRY APPLE BARS II

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. In a cup, beat egg yolk, stir the cold water into the yolk. Gradually stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture until dough can be packed into a ball. On a clean dry surface, roll out 1/2 of the dough large enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 9x13 inch pan. Lay the dough in the pan.
• Place the cornflakes over the dough in the pan. Arrange apple slices over the top of the corn flake layer. Sprinkle the sugar and cinnamon over the apples. Roll out the second half of the dough to cover the entire pan. Lay over the filling and pinch the edges of the two crusts together. Beat the egg white until foamy, and brush onto the top crust.
• Bake for 45 to 50 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown. Drizzle with glaze while still warm.
• To make the glaze: In a small bowl, beat the confectioners' sugar with the milk and almond extract until smooth.

DANISH PASTRY CINNAMON ROLLS

Steps:

• Make the butter roll-in first.
• With a pastry blender or two knives (using two knives is actually easier) cut the flour and the 3 sticks of butter together until combined but do not let the butter become warm. The butter should never be allowed to become warm the entire to time you are working with this dough.
• Tear off a sheet of waxed paper and dump the butter on to it. Place another sheet of waxed paper on top.
• Beat the the butter between the two sheets of waxed paper with a rolling pin until it becomes malleable. Make sure it stays cold though.
• With a spatula, a knife or whatever, shape the mound of butter into an 7"x9" rectangle. It doesn't have to be perfect but try to get it into a rectangular shape as best you can.
• Set aside in a cool spot or place back in the refrigerator while you make the dough, but don't let the butter re-harden. You want the butter to be cold but still soft and pliable. If it's too hard it will break through the dough when you roll it out.
• For the dough combine the packages of yeast with the warm milk and let sit 5 minutes to soften.
• Mix in the salt, sugar, and eggs.
• Add the 3 1/4 cups flour all at once and stir until thoroughly combined. You should have a very soft and sticky dough.
• Chill dough in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes.
• If the block of butter is in the refrigerator remove it when you place the dough in there to chill. You don't want the butter to re-harden and it's best if the dough and the butter are approximately the same temperature.
• Sprinkle your work surface generously, and I do mean generously, with flour. I use a shaker to evenly distribute the flour and completely cover the area I'm going to be rolling the dough out on. A simple dusting won't do. You need a good thick layer of flour, maybe as much as a 1/16 to an 1/8 of an inch thick. Don't worry about using too much flour because any excess will be brushed away with your pastry brush.
• Roll dough out into a 11"x16" rectangle.
• With a pastry brush brush all the excess flour off the top of the dough. Excess flour will interfere with layer formation.
• Place the block of butter on one side of the dough leaving a small border around the edges.
• Fold the other half of the dough over and pinch the seams together slightly to seal to encase the block of butter. If dough sticks to the table when you try to fold it then simply brush it with flour. Don't worry if the dough doesn't look too pretty at this point. It will get better.
• Turn the dough 1/4 turn so the part of the folded dough that opens up is on your right(like a book). Brush away the excess flour that's on top of the dough.
• Roll the folded dough into an 8"x20" rectangle. When you roll out the dough you want to make sure you use even strokes and roll from one end to the other. Avoid quick back and forth movements with the rolling pin and do not roll over the edge of your dough. This will destroy the layers you're trying to make. If the butter breaks through the dough simply sprinkle a little bit of flour over the spot.
• Brush away all excess flour off the top of the dough.
• Fold 1/3 of the dough over and brush off the excess flour and then fold the other 1/3 of the dough over that so the dough resembles a business letter.
• Roll out the dough again and fold it in thirds like a business letter just like you did before.
• Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour. This completes the first two "turns". Each time you roll out the dough and fold it you are doing what's known as a turn. A turn gets its name because after you fold the dough you have to turn it a quarter turn when you go to roll it out again. Each time you roll out the dough you want to make sure that the part of the dough that opens up is always on the right (like the way a book opens). It can open on the left if you want but the important thing is to be consistent.
• Meanwhile, take your pastry brush and a sheet of paper and sweep up all the flour on your work surface so you can use it again. You'll find that very little of the flour you used to roll out the dough actually gets worked into the dough.
• After the dough has chilled, sprinkle your work surface with your recycled flour and place the dough on it.
• Roll out and fold the dough in thirds exactly as you did before. (turn #3).
• Chill dough for 1 more hour.
• Repeat this rolling and folding one more time (turn # 4). You should now have a dough with 162 flaky layers (2x3x3x3x3). You started with two layers of dough separated by a layer of butter. Each time you rolled the dough out and folded it in thirds you increased the number of layers by a factor of 3.
• Chill dough for at least 3 hours or overnight if preferred. At this point you have a basic Danish pastry dough.
• With a sharp serrated knife, cut the dough in half.
• Keep one half in the refrigerator while you work with the first half.
• Roll the half of dough into a 9"x16" rectangle.
• Sprinkle the top of the dough with the cinnamon topping which consists of 2 tablespoons of melted butter, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 2 tablespoons flour, and 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans.
• Roll dough into a tight 16" long log.
• Cut dough into 16 pieces. The easiest way to do this is to cut the log in half and then cut those halves in half and so forth. If dough is too soft to slice wrap it up and refrigerate it for an hour or place it in the freezer for 10 to 15 minutes.
• Place cinnamon rolls on ungreased baking sheets at least 3 inches apart so they have room to rise and expand.
• Repeat with the other half of the dough.
• Cover the trays of cinnamon rolls with towels and set aside to rise until the rolls are ALMOST doubled (about a 75% increase in size). Don't put them in a warm spot because you don't want the butter to melt. Rising time may take a few hours or more. After a couple hours the surface of the rolls may start to dry out, especially if the air is dry. If this happens, cover the tray of rolls with a damp paper towel and then put another towel on top of that.
• Brush rolls lightly with egg wash and bake in a preheated 400°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are golden brown. Be sure to watch them carefully so they don't burn. If rolls are browning too fast on top lower the oven temperature about 15 degrees. If you have thin or dark colored baking sheets you may want to double-pan them so the bottoms of the cinnamon rolls don't get too dark.
• Drizzle powdered sugar icing over the rolls while they are still warm.
• To make icing simply combine powdered sugar with a teaspoon or two of vanilla and enough milk so you can drizzle it. I usually use about 3/4 to 1 pound of powdered sugar. As far as the amount of milk goes, I just kind of eyeball it.

DANISH CINNAMON SNAILS

Steps:

• Pour the warm milk into a mixing bowl and mash in the fresh cake yeast. Mix in 6 1/2 tablespoons of soft butter, eggs, cardamom, 2 tablespoons sugar, salt, and 3 1/2 cups of the flour. Use a wooden spoon to mix the dough. If it's very sticky, mix in the remaining 1/2 cup of flour. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for 30 minutes.
• Cream together the 2/3 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Stir in the cinnamon.
• Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead it until it's firm, about 3 minutes. Divide the dough in half; roll each half into a rectangle no more than 1/2 inch thick. Spread each rectangle with half the filling.
• Stack one layer of dough and filling on top of the other rectangle of dough, filling-side up. Roll the dough up, starting with the edge closest to you, to form a long log. Cut the log into 1 inch-thick slices.
• Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or grease a baking dish or two cake pans.
• Place the rolls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 3 inches apart. If you like pull-apart rolls, arrange them in a greased baking dish or cake pans, spacing the rolls about 1 inch apart. Place the uneven end pieces on the baking sheet cut-side up for the best presentation. Let the rolls rest 20 minutes before baking.
• Bake the snails in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Pull-apart rolls will take longer to bake: after 10 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake the rolls until the sides are fully set, about 10 minutes longer. Cover the baking dish with foil if the rolls begin to get too brown.

DANISH PASTRY APPLE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.)
• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Beat egg yolk in measuring cup and add enough milk to make 2/3 cup total liquid. Stir into flour mixture until all flour is damp. Divide the dough in half. On floured surface, roll half the dough into a rectangle and fit into a 9x13 inch pan.
• In large bowl, combine apples, brown sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Put apple mixture in pan. Roll out remaining dough and place over apples. Seal edges and cut slits in top dough. Beat egg white till frothy and brush on crust.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until golden brown.

DANISH CINNAMON BARS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees.
• Beat egg; add remaining ingredients except granulated sugar and mix well (use your hands if necessary).
• Press dough into ungreased 13x9x2 inch pan.
• Sprinkle granulated sugar evenly over bars.
• Bake 15 to 20 minutes.
• Cool slightly; cut into bars.
• Cool completely; remove from pan and store in airtight container.

APPLE DANISH BARS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 10x15-inch baking pan. Divide egg; set aside egg white for filling.
• Combine flour and salt in a bowl. Cut in shortening with 2 knives or a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in milk and egg yolk until incorporated. Divide dough into two equal pieces. Pat one piece into the bottom of the prepared pan; set other piece aside.
• Mix apples, brown sugar, sour cream, flour, butter, and cinnamon together until well combined. Pour over the dough in the pan.
• Roll or pat remaining dough into a rectangle and place on top of filling. Beat reserved egg white until frothy and brush over dough.
• Bake until top and bottom are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely, about 30 minutes, before cutting into bars.

RAISIN CINNAMON BARS

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine butter and brown sugar until crumbly. Add egg and mix well. Gradually beat in coffee.
• Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add to the coffee mixture; mix well. Stir in raisins.
• Transfer to a 13x9x2-inch baking pan coated with nonstick spray. Bake at 350 degrees 18-20 minutes, until edges pull away from sides of pan and toothpick comes out clean.
• Cool 5 minutes.
• In a bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and enough water to make it spreading consistency. Spread on warm bars.

DANISH CHOCOLATE BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Cream together 1/2 cup margarine, 1/2 cup brown sugar and 1 cup flour.
• Press into greased 9x13 pan and bake 8 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Mix together brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt, flour and baking powder.
• Pour over baked bottom layer.
• Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top.
• Bake 20 minutes more.