Prune Danish With Puff Pastry Food

PUFF PASTRY DANISHES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 425°. Beat first 4 ingredients until smooth; beat in 1 egg yolk., Mix water and remaining egg yolk. On a lightly floured surface, unfold each sheet of puff pastry; roll into a 12-in. square. Cut each into nine 4-in. squares; transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets., Top each square with 1 tablespoon cream cheese mixture and 1 rounded teaspoon jam. Bring 2 opposite corners of pastry over filling, sealing with yolk mixture. Brush tops with remaining yolk mixture., Bake until golden brown, 14-16 minutes. Serve warm. Refrigerate leftovers.

EASY CHEESE DANISH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.
• Beat the whole egg with 1 teaspoon of water in a small bowl; set aside.
• Beat the egg yolk, cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth.
• Lay out the 2 sheets of puff pastry and cut each into 4 squares. Fold the corners of the squares over by about 1 inch to make octagon shapes. Spoon the cream cheese mixture evenly into the center of each (about 2 tablespoons per); do not spread the cream cheese. Brush all of the exposed pastry with the egg wash, then dust generously with sugar.
• Bake until puffed and golden brown all over, about 18 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

PRUNE-FILLED DANISH

Steps:

• In a saucepan, bring plums and water to a boil. Cover; remove from the heat and let stand 10 minutes. Drain; reserving juice. , Unroll one tube of rolls and press into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Spread with half of the frosting. Cover with plums. Combine 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon reserved plum juice; drizzle over plums. , Roll out remaining rolls into a 13-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Place over plums. Combine remaining frosting and butter with 1 tablespoon plum juice. Carefully spread over dough. , Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes. Combine confectioners' sugar with 1-2 tablespoons plum juice; drizzle over cake. (Discard remaining plum juice).

GREAT-GRANDMA'S PRUNE ROLL

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm milk. Add the butter, shortening, egg yolks, sugar and salt and 3 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Cover and refrigerate overnight., In a large saucepan, cook plums in water 12-15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Mash; add sugar and lemon juice. Cook for 8-10 minutes over low heat until thickened. Cool and refrigerate., Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface; divide in half. Roll each portion into a 3-in. x 9-in. rectangle. Dot with butter; sprinkle with cinnamon. Spread about 1/3 cup plum filling down the center of each. , Fold a third of the dough lengthwise over filling. Fold remaining dough over top; pinch seams to seal and tuck ends under. Place seam side down in two greased 15x10x1-in. baking pans. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until doubled. , Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. Combine the glaze ingredients; drizzle over loaves.

PUFF PASTRY CHEESE AND PRESERVE DANISH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• In a small bowl combine the mascarpone, egg yolk, sugar, flour and vanilla. Stir until just combined and then set aside.
• Dust the puff pastry with flour and roll with a rolling pin to flatten and smooth.
• Place the puff pastry on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Schmear the mascarpone down the middle of the puff pastry lengthwise into a 3-inch wide strip. Spoon the fruit preserves on top of the mascarpone.
• Using sharp kitchen shears cut the long sides of the pastry into 1-inch wide strips. Cut towards the cheese filling but stop about 1-inch before you get to the filling. This result will look like fringy pastry. Alternating sides, fold 1 piece of the fringe over the cheese and jelly mixture. The result will look like a braided pastry with fruit preserve peeking through. Brush the dough with the beaten egg yolk mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool before serving. Cut into strips to serve.
• Call yourself a super star!

PUFF PASTRY CHEESE AND PRESERVE DANISH

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• In a small bowl combine the mascarpone, egg yolk, sugar, flour and vanilla. Stir until just combined and then set aside.
• Dust the puff pastry with flour and roll with a rolling pin to flatten and smooth.
• Place the puff pastry on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Schmear the mascarpone down the middle of the puff pastry lengthwise into a 3-inch wide strip. Spoon the fruit preserves on top of the mascarpone.
• Using sharp kitchen shears cut the long sides of the pastry into 1-inch wide strips. Cut towards the cheese filling but stop about 1-inch before you get to the filling. This result will look like fringy pastry. Alternating sides, fold 1 piece of the fringe over the cheese and jelly mixture. The result will look like a braided pastry with fruit preserve peeking through. Brush the dough with the beaten egg yolk mixture. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Let cool on a rack for at least 15-20 minutes before serving. Cut into strips to serve.

DANISH PUFF

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°. Place flour in a bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Sprinkle with water; toss with a fork until dough holds together when pressed. Divide dough in half. On greased baking sheets, press each portion into 12x3-in. rectangle., For topping, in a saucepan, heat butter and water to a rolling boil. Add flour and salt all at once and beat until blended. Cook over low heat, stirring vigorously until mixture pulls away from sides of pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat; let stand 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth. Add extract; continue beating until mixture is smooth and shiny. Spread half of the mixture over each rectangle., Bake until puffed and golden brown, about 1 hour. Cool on pans 10 minutes., Mix first four icing ingredients until smooth; spread over warm pastries. Sprinkle with almonds.

DANISH PUFF

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Place 1 cup flour in medium bowl. Cut in 1/2 cup softened butter, using pastry blender (or pulling 2 table knives through ingredients in opposite directions), until particles are size of coarse crumbs. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons water over mixture; toss with fork.
• Gather pastry into a ball; divide in half. Pat each half into 12x3-inch rectangle, about 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet.
• In 2-quart saucepan, heat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil; remove from heat. Quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat about 1 minute or until mixture forms a ball; remove from heat. Add eggs; beat until smooth. Spread half of the topping over each rectangle.
• Bake about 1 hour or until topping is crisp and brown; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely.
• In medium bowl, mix all glaze ingredients except nuts until smooth and spreadable. Spread over top of pastry; sprinkle with nuts.

VERY EASY DANISH (JAM FILLED PUFF PASTRY)

Steps:

• Grease an oven tray and preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius (400 Fahrenheit).
• Cut 8 squares of equal size from the puff pastry sheets (or circles if you prefer).
• Place two teaspoons of jam (jelly) on 4 of the pastry squares. On the other 4 pieces, cut criss-crosses for ventilation and for prettiness.
• Press the criss-crossed pastry pieces on top of the jam covered pieces, and press together all around the edge using a little oil.
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes until puffed and golden.
• Allow to cool and enjoy.

DANISH PASTRY BRAID

Steps:

• Quick Method Danish Pastry:
• Measure 3 1/2 cups flour into a bowl or work bowl of food processor with steel blade in place. Cut the butter into 1/4-inch slices and add to the flour. Process or cut the butter into the flour until the butter is about the size of kidney beans.
• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the cream or milk, cardamom, salt, eggs, and sugar.
• Turn the flour-butter mixture into the liquid ingredients, and with a rubber spatula mix carefully just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours, overnight, or up to 4 days.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board; dust with flour. Pound and flatten to make a 16- to 20-inch rectangle. Fold into thirds, making 3 layers. Turn dough around and roll out again. Fold from the short sides into thirds. This should result in a perfect square. Repeat folding and rolling again if you wish.
• Wrap and chill the dough 30 minutes or as long as overnight.
• To make the Danish Pastry Braid:
• Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease and flour them.
• Divide the chilled dough into 2 parts. Roll each part out to make a rectangle 12 by 6 inches. Place these strips on the prepared baking sheets.
• To make the filling, cream the butter and sugar until light. Blend in the almond extract, almonds, almond paste, and egg white.
• Spread filling down the length of the center of the strips. Cut slanting strips at 3/4-inch intervals along both sides up toward the center using a pastry wheel. Fold strips over the filling in a crisscross manner
• Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
• Let strips rise for 15 to 30 minutes, just until the pastry strips look puffy; they will not double.
• To make a glaze, beat the egg with the milk or water. Brush the pastry lightly with it. Sprinkle the sugar and/or sliced almonds over the top.
• Bake about 15 minutes or until golden.
• Frost, if desired, with almond-water icing. Blend the sugar, water, and almond extract until smooth and thin enough to drizzle over the braids.