Danish Overload

I finsished the last two Danish recipes in The Art & Soul of Baking last week. I used a 1/4 of a recipe of Danish dough each. Both recipes are pretty much the same they just differ on shape. One is a braid and the other is a claw.

You can find the recipe for the Braided Danish Coffee Cake HERE.  The recipe for the Danish braid gives the option of using a cream cheese filling or an almond filling. I used the almond filling. You can find the recipe for the Danish Dough, Apricot Glaze, and Cream Cheese Filling HERE.  You can find the recipe for the Almond Filling HERE.

For Danish Bear Claws, roll out the dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out 4 x 4-inch squares. Place a tablespoon of almond filling in center and fold dough in half, sealing edges. Cut out “toes”. Curve claw into a smile. Then follow the directions for the braid. The baking time is less, 12 to 14 minutes total.

This concludes my adventures in Danish. Now on to Puff Pastry!

Apricot, Almond, & Chocolate Spiraled Coffee Cake

For most of last week I was on vacation, out of town.  When I got back home, I immediately had to go to work on Wednesday and didn’t have an opportunity to bake. {Of course, it was noticed by my co-workers who said our treat counter was looking mighty empty 😛 }. So this weekend I was itching to get back into the kitchen and make some yummy treats.

The next recipes for me to tackle out of The Art & Soul of Baking were the Rich Breakfast Dough and the Apricot, Almond, & Chocolate Spiraled Coffee Cake.

The Rich Breakfast Dough is the base for the next few recipes in the book. It is a leaner brioche–it uses less eggs and butter–and is a good companion for the sweet fillings and toppings for the cakes and breads that follow it. It is easy to make and work with and it’s flavor is outstanding.

The Apricot, Almond, & Chocolate Spiraled Coffee Cake is fairly easy to assemble. Once the breakfast dough is done rising, you roll it out to a 11″ by 15″ rectangle. Smear it with the almond filling–a mixture of almond paste, sugar, and butter–, scatter chopped up amaretto-soaked dried apricots and mini-chocolate chips, and roll it up nice and tight. You slice up the dough, but not all the way to create a twist pattern. You can then let it rise for an hour or stick it in the refrigerator to bake the next morning (which is what I did). It bakes in the oven for 20 minutes or so and smells absolutely wonderful.

Once the cake is done baking, you brush it with an apricot glaze (apricot jam and water) and drizzle with a sugar glaze (confectioner’s suger and water).

It was no surprise that this was a big hit at work. Everyone loved it and it satisfied their treat cravings.

You can find the recipes for both the Rich Breakfast Dough and the Coffee Cake here.