Strawberry Danish

Its summer time (technically, but Mother Nature has little to show for it), which means fresh local strawberries are in season. I found a recipe online a few months ago for strawberry danish pastries that I had been wanting to try but hadn't gotten around to yet, so I figured this was a good time to so. The recipe can be found here. I followed the recipe almost exactly, except for the pastry cream - in which I used this recipe. Besides the pastry cream the other two ingredients are puff pastry dough and strawberries, so really it was the formula from the first recipe that I was actually following and not so much the recipe itself.

I made my pastry cream a day in advance so that it would have time to chill in the fridge. My days are usually packed pretty full of work and other various activities, leaving a 1-2 hour window of kitchen time - so anything that can be done in advance is extremely helpful. I unwrapped my puff pastry dough and set it out on the counter to thaw out for about an hour while I took a nap, which is one of my scheduled "other activities" that my day is so jam-packed with.  After I woke up  it was time to get to work.

The first step in the recipe involves draping the dough around a wooden dowel in order to cut even strips on either end, but I like to be a little rebellious sometimes and this was one of those times. (The wooden dowel approach seems confusing, so look the real recipe in order to see what I'm talking about.) Also, I didn't have an extra wooden dowel laying around so I just cut my dough into rectangles and then cut the strips one at a time trying to make them look as even as possible. It looks more rustic that way anyway. The only thing you really need to make sure of here is that there are the same number of strips cut on either side because these are going to be folded over on top of one another to create the braid effect. Each box of puff pastry contains 2 sheets of dough, which make 3 pastries each. The first two rectangles were easy to cut out - the third one required re-rolling scraps of dough in order make a large enough piece. Since I don't own a rolling pin and I was in ultra creativity mode, I cleaned off a bottle of flavored syrup that I had laying around and used that. I was pleasantly surprised with how well that worked.

Next, I spooned a few tablespoons of pastry cream on to the centers of each of the rectangles and topped them with a good amount of sliced strawberries. After tasting the finished product, I decided that I probably could have used more of the pastry cream than I did. Plus, I had over half of the recipe leftover.

Now it was time to braid the dough. It really is easier than it might seem, you just cross the strips over each other, alternating which one goes on top. There is probably a much fancier way to do this, but this method worked for me and it looked nice when I was finished too. There isn't anything sealing either end, so be careful when transferring the pastry to a baking sheet that the strawberries don't fall out of the ends.

6 pastries later, I lined them up on an ungreased baking sheet and topped them off with an egg wash to make them shine. The recipe didn't specify if the baking sheet should be greased or not so I took my chances and went without and didn't have any problems getting them off. I baked them at 375 for 35 minutes. When I pulled them out it looked like a murder had taken place in my oven. Strawberry juice had leaked from each of the ends, making blood red pools around each of the pastries. This didn't end up being a factor when removing them from the pan however.

You'll notice that some look nicer than others. This was due to the second sheet of dough being stickier than the first. I ate the one on the far right first so that no one else could see it.

And here is one of the nicer looking ones posing for a photo opp. They really did end up being pretty good, especially the next morning for breakfast. Like I said, I will add more cream to the center next time to add a bit more substance to the center. I may mess around with this recipe and adapt it according to fruits that are in season. I'm thinking a peach or raspberry version might hit the spot, or maybe a mixture of the two!