Danish pastry “Spandauer”
Traditional Danish recipe.
Servings Prep Time
16servings 1hour
Cook Time Passive Time
30minutes 2hours
Servings Prep Time
16servings 1hour
Cook Time Passive Time
30minutes 2hours
Ingredients
Pastry Dough
Pastry Marzipan Filling
Pastry Cream
Fruit Jam Filling
Egg Wash
Glazing
Instructions
Pastry Cream
  1. In a small sauce pan mix together vanilla sugar, granulated sugar and corn starch. Stir and make sure there are no lumps.
  2. Over medium heat add small amount of cream (about 1/4 cup) and whisking constantly dissolve any lumps. Add the rest of the cream and eggs. Whisk the eggs until they are fully integrated in the mixture. Keep whisking constantly to prevent burning and cook until cream starts thickening up. Don’t overcook it or you will end up with the scrambled eggs.
  3. Remove from the heat and keep whisking until the cream is cooled off or transfer to a cold bowl and put aside.
Pastry Marzipan Filling
  1. In a small bowl add sugar, marzipan and butter. Kneed it together until you get a unified, homogeneous mass. Don’t overdo it or the butter will start melting and will become sticky.
Pastry Dough
  1. In a large mixing bowl add milk, whisk in the sugar and dissolve the yeast.
  2. Fold in about 1/2 of flour and mix until unified. Stir in softened butter and then add the rest of the flour. Kneed the dough together just until removing all the lumps. Form the ball, lightly flour, cover and let rise for 1 to 1.5 hours at room temperature.
  3. Soften the butter by pounding it with rolling pin. Sprinkle butter with flour, cover with parchment paper or stretch wrap to prevent flour dust from dispersing. Pound the butter over it. As the butter is flattened, fold it in two and keep repeating process until it forms consistency of a soft dough. Shape butter in a ball. The process of butter softening will take about 5 minutes. Avoid prolonged contact of your hands and butter or it will melt and become sticky. Note: The goal is to have butter have the same consistency as the dough it will be folded in. Both butter and dough that are of same consistency will work better together during the laminating process.
  4. Roll the dough out in shape of a butterfly. Each corner and the middle of the butterfly shape should be roughly the size of prepared butter ball. Leave middle section slightly thicker. For example if each rolled out corner of butterfly shape is about 3 mm (1/8″) thick than the middle section of the shape should be about 12 mm (1/2″).
  5. Put the butter ball in the middle of stretched dough shape, fold each corner of the dough over the ball. The thickness of the dough that encased the butter ball will end up being almost the same on the top and at the bottom. Turn the wrapped ball upside down, seams down, dust with flour to keep from sticking and gently press with palms of your hands into a rectangular shape.
  6. Using plenty of flour for dusting gently roll the dough out into a rectangular shape. The width to length ratio is 1:3; the stretched dough should be 3 times longer as it is wide. The dough is fragile so be careful as the dough is being turned over and rolled, do not rush it!
  7. Fold the dough rectangle into thirds, stacked on top of each other. Cover the dough and leave to rest in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
  8. Repeat the same process of rolling the dough rectangle that is 3 times longer than wider, folding, and resting it in the fridge for 20 minutes. If during rolling process butter punctures the surface of the dough just add some flour to that area and continue.
  9. Repeat the same process and let the dough rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Pat yourself on the back, you have just created a 27 layer pastry dough!
Danish Pastry Assembly
  1. Roll out rested dough into a square shape, approximately 40 cm x 40 cm (16″x 16″). Dust with flour on each side to keep from sticking.
  2. Using a pizza cutter carefully cut the dough into a sixteen 4″ squares.
  3. Put about 1 tbsp of marzipan filling in the middle of square. Fold all the corners by slightly overlapping them in the middle, press corners firmly into enclosed marzipan filling that will hold them together.
  4. Place filled dough pastry onto a baking pan lined with parchment paper. Repeat the same process with the rest of dough squares.
  5. Brush all pieces lightly with egg wash, make them moist and shiny but not wet. Cover and let rise for 1/2 to 1 hour in warm place.
  6. As the dough squares about double in size lightly press with fingers in the middle of each square. This will create a small hollow and firmer bond with marzipan filling.
  7. To each of 8 squares add about 1 tsp of a pastry cream in the depression in the middle and sprinkle with granular sugar around the edge. You can garnish the top with chopped nuts (almonds or hazelnuts).
  8. To each of another 8 squares add 1 tsp of apricot jam in the middle, sprinkle some granular sugar around the edge and garnish with chopped nuts.
  9. Bake at 200ºC ( 390ºF) for 25 to 30 minutes.
  10. Let the pastries cool for 20 minutes before glazing with icing sugar. Icing sugar is made by combining confectioners sugar and water.
Variation – Danish Pastry Bar
  1. Roll rested dough into a square shape, approximately 40 cm x 40 cm (16″x 16″). Dust with flour on each side to keep from sticking.
  2. Using a pizza cutter to cut the dough into a three 4″ wide strips.
  3. Divide marzipan filling into 3 equal pats. Spread each part of the filling by creating a continuous 2 cm wide filling line in the middle of the dough strip, by length.
  4. Fold in the short sides of each dough strip, about 2.5 cm (1″) wide folds.
  5. Fold in both long sides of each strip by overlapping them in the middle. Using side of your hand firmly press overlapped dough sides into marzipan filling.
  6. Brush all pieces lightly with egg wash, make them moist and shiny but not wet, top with sprinkled granulated sugar. Cover and let rise for 1/2 to 1 hour in warm place.
  7. Bake at 200ºC ( 390ºF) for 25 to 30 minutes.
  8. Let the pastries cool for 20 minutes before glazing with icing sugar. Icing sugar is made by combining confectioners sugar and water.