Danish Pastry

Chef PotPie's Note:

My Mother-In-Law gave me this recipe after we were first married. It is so easy and tastes so wonderful. It's well loved by many. I can't say for sure if it's authentically Danish, but we served it at our Danish Dinner when we were doing an International Dinner Club. Everyone loved it! Cream cheese frosting is good on this, and sometimes we like drizzled melted bittersweet chocolate. UPDATE: I should explain something since the last review. She was as nice as can be when we talked, and the fault is mine for not giving more explicit directions. The pastry-to-topping ratio is right on, but it will be a bit daunting. It's very thick, and must be spooned onto the pastry and then spread to the edges, not over the sides. It will be thicker than the pastry. This seems like it may be getting too brown, but as long as it is still a nice brown, not a mean one, 1 hour is the perfect baking time for this if your oven temperature is right on. My husband requested this tonight as part of his birthday dinner. As always, it was a To-Die-For dessert. Our daughter frosted it with "canned" cream cheese frosting with 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract stirred in! YUM! See pic. Also be advised there is no sugar in the Danish Pastry itself, the sweetness will come from whatever you choose to frost it with! We recommend the almond cream cheese frosting. :)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 25 mins
• Prep Time: 25 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs

Ingredients:

Serves: 6-8

Yield: 2.0 pastries

PASTRY

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons water

FILLING

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional)

Directions:

1. Pastry:.
2. Cut butter into flour.
3. Add water and mix with fork.
4. Shape into a ball and divide in half.
5. Pat into two 12" X 3" strips on an ungreased cookie sheet.
6. FILLING:.
7. Bring water and butter to boil and remove from heat.
8. Add flour and beat until smooth.
9. Add eggs one a a time, then flavoring.
10. Add almonds, if using.
11. Spread half of filling on each strip of pastry. Bake 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until golden brown.
12. Frost.

Reviews

[ColCadsMom]

This is SOOOOO yummy! I was so afraid since the recipe didn't call for sugar we wouldn't like it. Without the frosting...we didn't. But with the frosting it is heavenly! I LOVE the almond flavor in both the filling and stirred into cream cheese frosting. My 6 year old exclaimed, this deserves 8 million thumbs up. My 3 year old cried for another serving. This family has a MAJOR sweet tooth, and if it sweet enough to satisfy us, it will satisfy ANYONE. Thanks so much Chef PotPie!!!!! Made for ZWT3.

[Karen=^..^=]

This wasn't quite what I expected, unfortunately. There was so much filling that it seemed like either the pastry part should be doubled or the filling should be halved. I followed the recipe exactly, patting the pastry into 3 x 12 strips and then poured half the filling on each one. The filling started spilling over the sides, but I went ahead and baked them. They ended up spreading to about 6-7 inches wide, but the base only spread a little bit, so it was mostly the filling and hardly any pastry. These were getting pretty dark after about 40 minutes, so I took them out of the oven. They did look really good though, so I had a taste...then realized there is no sugar in the recipe! It definitely needed some type of frosting, so I drizzled with semi-sweet chocolate. This did help and it ended up tasting ok, but I think there may be a problem with the filling to pastry ratio and also the cooking time. This is an interesting recipe...one that I might play around with and try again. Thanks!