Christmas Danish Pastry Recipes

OLD DANISH CHRISTMAS KRINGLE (DANSK SMøRKRINGLE)

Steps:

• Make the dough: Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a medium mixing bowl. Let the mixture stand 5 minutes until bubbly. Add the milk, cardamom, 1/4 cup sugar, egg yolks and cream. Stir well and set side.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Place the cubed butter on top of the flour and pulse until pea-sized pieces of butter form. Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast mixture to the flour. Mix together just until the ingredients are moistened. Using your hands, briefly knead in any of the flour that didn't incorporate. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough overnight.
• Make the filling: Break the almond paste into pieces and place in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and knead together with your hands. The mixture will be thick.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knead together any loose dough pieces. Dough will be firm at first, so pound it flat with a rolling pin until it loosens a bit and becomes pliable. Roll to 24-inches square, picking up parts of the dough and spreading flour underneath intermittently so that it does not stick to the work surface.
• Fold dough into thirds to make a long narrow strip. Roll the strip to about 36-inches in length, to about 1/4 inch thickness. Optional: Trim the ragged edges of the pastry to neaten the presentation. I removed about 1/2 inch of dough on all edges.
• Place the filling in the center of the dough. The filling will be thick and clumpy, so place it by the handfuls or use two spoons - one spoon to pick up the filling and another to scrape it from the spoon and onto the dough.
• Brush the long edges of the dough with egg wash and fold each edge towards the center, overlapping one edge of the dough slightly over the other (see video) and completely encasing the filling.
• Transfer the dough to the baking sheet, and place it seam-side-down. Gently form the length of dough to a wreath shape that overlaps slightly at the ends. Use egg wash to secure the ends together (see video). Cover the entire pastry with egg wash and immediately sprinkle with coarse sugar. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let proof in a warm place for 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake the pastry for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet and then transfer to a large serving platter.
• Make the glaze: Place the confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl and add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until a thick glaze forms. (I used 2 tbsp.) Add the vanilla and pinch of salt. Whisk together. Pour over the warm kringle. Immediately scatter chopped pecans and walnuts over the wet glaze.
• Serve immediately or the glaze will set in about 30 minutes (if you can wait that long for a bite!).

DANISH PASTRY

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and 2/3 cup of flour. Divide into 2 equal parts, and roll each half between 2 pieces of waxed paper into a 6 x12 inch sheet. Refrigerate.
• In a large bowl, mix together the dry yeast and 3 cups of the remaining flour. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar and salt. Heat to 115 degrees F (43 degrees C), or just warm, but not hot to the touch. Mix the warm milk mixture into the flour and yeast along with the eggs, and lemon and almond extracts. Stir for 3 minutes. Knead in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is firm and pliable. Set aside to rest until double in size.
• Cut the dough in half, and roll each half out to a 14 inch square. Place one sheet of the cold butter onto each piece of dough, and fold the dough over it like the cover of a book. Seal edges by pressing with fingers. Roll each piece out to a 20x 12 inch rectangle, then fold into thirds by folding the long sides in over the center. Repeat rolling into a large rectangle, and folding into thirds. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
• Remove from the refrigerator one at a time, and roll and fold each piece two more times. Return to the refrigerator to chill again before shaping. If the butter gets too warm, the dough will become difficult to manage.
• To make danishes, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. The dough can be cut into squares, with a filling placed in the center. Fold 2 of the corners over the center to form a filled diamond shape. Or, fold the piece in half, cut into 1 inch strips, stretch, twist and roll into a spiral. Place a dollop of preserves or other filling in the center. Place danishes on an ungreased baking sheet, and let rise until doubled. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (220 degrees C). Danishes can be brushed with egg white for a shiny finish.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the bottoms are golden brown.

DANISH DOUGH

Steps:

• In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk; stir until dissolved. Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine 1 pound, 4 ounces flour, sugar, salt, cardamom, and 4 tablespoons butter; beat on low speed until butter is incorporated and the mixture resembles coarse meal, 3 to 4 minutes. Pour in the yeast-milk mixture; mix until dough just comes together. Add the eggs and yolk; mix until just combined, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overmix.
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, making sure to include any loose bits left at the bottom of the bowl. Gently knead to form a smooth ball, about 30 seconds. Wrap well with plastic, and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Paddle remaining 3 1/2 sticks butter with 2 tablespoons flour. Form flour and butter mixture into a 12-by-10-inch rectangle on a sheet of plastic wrap. Refrigerate 15 minutes or up to 1 day. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to an 18-by-10-inch rectangle, a little over a 1/4 inch thick, keeping the corners as square as possible. Remove any excess flour with a dry pastry brush. Remove butter mixture from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature until it reaches the consistency of the dough. With a short side facing you, place butter mixture over 2/3 of the dough. Fold the unbuttered third over as you would a business letter, followed by the remaining third. This seals in the butter.
• Roll out dough again to an 18-by-10-inch rectangle, then fold dough into thirds as described above; refrigerate for 1 hour. This is the first of three turns. Repeat rolling and folding two more times, refrigerating for at least 1 hour between turns. To help you remember how many turns have been completed, mark the dough after each one: make one mark for the first turn, two for the second, and three for the third.
• Refrigerate dough, tightly wrapped in plastic, for at least 4 hours or overnight. Dough can also be frozen, tightly wrapped in plastic, for up to 2 weeks; before using, thaw the dough in the refrigerator overnight.

CHRISTMAS DANISH PASTRY

Steps:

• Read and Follow Carefully!
• Pastry: Place butter and sugar in 4-quart bowl, pour heated milk over fat.
• Let stand while yeast dissolves in 1/2 cup water and 1 tbs sugar.
• Stir and let stand for 5 minutes.
• When yeast is dissolved and bubbly, add eggs and beat well.
• Add yeast/egg mixture to cooled milk mixture.
• Add salt to flour in sifter and sift in to bowl of above ingredients.
• Beat with a spoon until all flour is added to make a soft dough.
• Let rise until double.
• Custard: Heat milk.
• Mix sugar, salt and flour together and stir into hot milk.
• Stir until thick, beat egg yolk and gradually add hot mixture TO YOLK until hot and then add back to original mixture.
• Cook 1 minute more.
• Let cool.
• Almond Filling: Beat all ingredients together with mixer.
• Crumb Mixture: Combine flour, sugar and walnuts; mix in the 1/2 cup butter until well mixed.
• Assembly: Divide dough into 3 portions, or, make up to 12 small pastries.
• Roll out to about 1/4 to 1/2 thick rectangles, long side perpendicular to you works best.
• Place fillings down center of rectangle in this order: Custard, almond filling, crumb mixture.
• Cut equal number of slits on both sides of rectangle, leaving the center 1/3 of dough intact with fillings.
• Braid the strips you just cut over the fillings.
• Place pastries in foil lined pans, brush with egg white beaten with 2 tbs water.
• Place halved maraschino cherries, like buttons, down the top and sprinkle with more crumb mixture.
• Bake at 350°F for 20 min for small pastries, 30 minutes for medium, and 35-40 minutes for large.