Danish Pastry and Getting Up Early

Happy Easter Everyone!

I'm doing a brunch this year for Easter and this is one of the things I'm making.  This was also one of the first few posts I did when I started my blog, so I thought I'd share it with you again.

I love watching my teenagers look for their Easter Baskets.  They've been hunting for them for a while now.  I wonder if they'll find them.

I love to get up early before everyone else is up! I like the quiet house with everyone snoozing! And while everyone is snoozing I like to make a fun breakfast treat. Danish Pastry is a recipe I found in one of my favorite cookbooks years ago. I like it because it tastes really fancy, but I always have all the ingredients on hand. It takes an hour to bake, but it is worth the extra time. The crust is nice and flaky and it has a cream puff top the puffs up while baking, then sinks and you spread it with a yummy glaze. You can put nuts on it, but my family likes it better without.

Danish Puff Pastry

1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
2-4 tablespoons cold water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup water
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 eggs

Glaze

1  1/2 cups powdered sugar
1  1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons butter
1-2 tablespoons warm water

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut 1/2 butter into 1 cup flour. Sprinkle some of the water over the flour mixture and stir till it all comes together adding more water if needed. Roll into a ball. Divide in half. On ungreased baking sheet, pat each half into a strip, 12x3 inches. Strips should be about 3 inches apart.



Heat 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to rolling boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat and quickly stir in almond extract and 1 cup flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat. Beat in eggs all at once until smooth and glossy.

Divide in half; spread each half evenly over strips. Bake about 60 minutes or until topping is crisp and brown. Cool. (Topping will shrink and fall, forming the custardy top of this puff.) Frost with Glaze and sprinkle with nuts.

Glaze

Mix powdered sugar, butter,  vanilla and warm water until smooth and spreading consistency.

Making a scalloped doily

My daughter told me how to make a cake plate topper. You can make these any size. Just fold a piece of wax paper or parchment paper in half, then in half again, then again,


Then again,Until it is this size.

Then turn it over and look for the smallest edge,
then cut an arch in it. Open it up and you have
scallops!