Canadians celebrated Thanksgiving this past weekend and I celebrated by taking the time to make this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe (Danish Braid, p 205) for a special Sunday breakfast. Sometimes on Sunday I might whip up some bacon and eggs but I rarely (if ever!) have the time to make a Danish pastry. I relished having the extra day and loved being able to serve this to Neil for a classy, leisurely breakfast on the porch.
I’ve never actually made a Danish before so I was surprised with how easy the dough was to make – it literally came together in 10 minutes then rested in the fridge overnight. I got up early on Sunday to roll out the dough, fill it and shape it before letting it rest for 30 minutes then baking it until golden brown.
The recipe calls for two from-scratch fillings (a fruit filling and a confectioner’s cream or almond filling) which I didn’t make. I had some gorgeous blueberry/ cranberry jam on hand and a little cream cheese so that’s what I filled our Danish with. Call me lazy!
No, mine does not look so much like a “braid” (I could not make much sense of the instructions in the book and wished I had seen Cher’s photos (before and after) of how she did it so beautifully before I had shaped mine. Oh well, next time! In any case, I was very surprised (as I always am with things involving pastry or yeast) that this turned out so well and that it tasted, well, like it is supposed to. I’ll definitely be making this again – the possibilities for different fillings and for making smaller individual portions are endless!
Get the recipe for the Danish Pastry Braid here.
Tuesdays with Dorie participants do not publish the recipes on our blogs, rather, we prefer if you purchase Baking with Julia for yourselves which you can do here on Amazon or Amazon Canada. Or for free worldwide shipping, buy from The Book Depository. Then join us, baking along at Tuesdays with Dorie. Go on, you know you want to.
_________________
US/Canadian readers: Win one of two copies of Pomegranates & Pine Nuts by Bethany Kehdy. Ends TODAY Tuesday October 15th, 2013 at 6pm EST.
Mr. Neil loved BEING served this, alongside my latte, whilst reading the New York times on a rather lovely warm weekend morn!
Never mind the braid – this looked, and tasted, wonderful. A perfect way to start the day.
Your braids are beautiful! And that jam sounds fantastic. I also went that route for one of my braids and used a bottle of cherry preserves paired with a cream cheese filling. We loved this!
Mmmmm….your photos have me yearning for another slice 🙂
Beautiful! I know what I am making for my (danish) family this weekend.
Lucky Mr. Neil!
I like the way you shaped it – it had a fun modern feel going on. (P.S. I totally used a jar of store lemon curd – there was no way almond cream and homemade lekvar were happening in this house this weekend!)
Hope you had a restful holiday yesterday.
He deserves it. Just sayin’. 😉
I’m going with “fun modern feel” as opposed to “I didn’t know how to make the braid” 😉
This is a beautiful danish! I’ve been wanting to make something like this for a while. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! 🙂
This reminds me of Kringle.
Might try my hand at making one this Sat AM – love the jammie filling!
Looks great!! I too loved having the extra day this weekend to make this pastry! I didn’t make my own filling either. I used an apricot spread and a cream cheese filling. I loved how easy this dough was to make…so it seemed appropriate to use a quick filling.
I’m making pinwheels tonight with the other half of the dough! 🙂
Pinwheels – that’s a great idea!
If it was not for Thanksgiving weekend, I would have not attempted this recipe! Love the Sunday Styles photo.
Do you deliver? If so, I would like two of these delivered, warm and buttery, next Sunday!
Haha! Thanks!
This is a beautiful danish. I love the picture of the jam running out a little. It was a good recipe. 🙂
Yup it was a good recipe – pleased with that!
I won’t call you lazy if you don’t call me lazy—-I’m using cream cheese as well! (Though I did make a homemade strawberry jam to go with.)
Looks beautiful! 🙂
Oh, I love your almonds on top!
Thanks – just part of the recipe!
Who cares if it’s not braided as per the instructions! The pastry looks perfect and the filling sounds delicious 🙂
Well, I actually do – things like that bug me!
I also love how the filling variations are endless! I certainly wouldn’t call you lazy for not making any — the Danish seems the perfect vessel for using up jams.
Totally – and now I know how to make the pastry, it will be made again so I can use up some jams and jellies!
You made a beautiful looking pastry! Your filling sounds delicious. I love the second picture – great angle shot!
What a wonderful way to enjoy a leisurely Sunday morning. Your braid looks great!