mega danish pastry

Friday, March 18, 2011

From the Kitchen of Pat Nieman

Mega Danish Pastry

This is Mega Danish because this recipe makes three good sized pastries....enough to share and still have some for the home team (Do you feel bad when you cook something yummy and your family asks, "Who's that for?")

First make this easy dough:

2 cubes butter, softened
2 pkg (or 2 T) yeast...I use SAF yeast
2 C warm milk
2 eggs
3/4 C sugar
1 tsp salt
6 C flour
Mix and knead about 5 minutes. Don't add much additional flour...you want a soft dough. Let rise while you make the fillings.


Custard:
(I usually make about 1 1/2 times this amount because I love lots of filling)

1 C milk
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C sugar
3 T flour (I use Wondra)
1 tsp vanilla
Stir together and cook in microwave...let cool...I actually put this in the freezer to really cool it down. If it's warm you'll melt the almond/oat filling

Next...make the Almond/Oat filling:
(again, I usually make 1 1/2 times this amount)

Almond Filling:
3/4 C sugar
1 cube butter
1/3 C oats
2 tsp almond flavoring
Mix until crumbly.


When dough has risen, divide into three pieces and pat each into a large rectangle on a baking sheet.


Slice along each side at about 1 inch intervals. Then spread 1/3 of the custard down the center. Next crumble 1/3 the almond mixture on top of the custard.




Finally, braid the strips over the fillings, tucking the ends in so the fillings doesn't leak out while baking.

Let rise again; bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes until slightly browned.

Frost with a powdered sugar glaze or thin cream cheese frosting.

These also freeze well and are great to make during the holidays when you want a nice breakfast treat that doesn't have to be made at the last minute.

Foolproof Fudge

This recipe is from my Mother in Law Lila, I have not tried it yet, but I want to put it in my blog before it gets lost....it's on a small square piece of paper that keeps falling off  the desk!!

FOOLPROOF FUDGE

3 C. (18 oz) semi sweet chocolate chips
14 oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk
dash of salt
1.5 t. Vanilla Extract
Optional:
1/2 C. Chopped Nuts
OR
2 C. minature Marshmallows

Line a 8 or 9 inch square pan with foil. Butter the foil. Set aside.

In a Heavy Saucepan melt the chips with the milk and salt
remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and the Nuts
or
2  Tablespoons of Butter and the marshmallows.

Spread evenly in prepared pan and chill for 2 hours or till firm.

Turn out onto a clean cutting board and peel off the foil.
Cut into squares.
Store covered in the refrigerator.

No-Bake Energy Bites Recipe

This recipe also comes from Lindsay Carrick!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (dry) oatmeal (I used old-fashioned oats)
• 1 cup toasted coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (mini if you have them)
• 1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or Chunky is fine)
• 1/2 cup ground flaxseed (some people can taste flax and some cannot but its full of omega 3!)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Method:
Stir all ingredients together in a medium bowl until thoroughly mixed. Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour. Once chilled, roll into balls of whatever size you would like. (Mine were about 1″ in diameter.) Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
Makes about 20-25 balls.
Ali’s Tip:
Substitution ideas can abound for just about any of these ingredients! Feel free to substitute in your favorite nut butter (almond butter, sunflower seed butter, etc.) for the peanut butter. And you could also add in some wheat germ in place of some or all of the flaxseed. I would caution, though, against substituting agave nectar for the honey, as the honey’s thickness helps hold things together.
Some other fun substitutions for the chocolate chips (or an addition to them) could include:

• chopped dried fruit (apricots, dates, raisins, etc.)
• dried berries (cranberries, cherries, etc.)
• chopped almonds, pecans, or sunflower seeds
• other chips (butterscotch, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, etc.)

Broken Glass

YES, thats right.....Broken Glass....and Yes! it's edible!

It's not actually glass....it's jello but when you add all the colors together with the filling it looks like it could be!

Make a graham Cracker crust and put it in a springform pan reserving about 2 T. to sprinkle on top.

1pkg each of (Small Jello packets)

Lime Jello,

Lemon Jello

Strawberry Jello

(we also use Orange Jello and you can get any color you would like to add also)

Dissolve each of these in separate trays with 1.5 cups of boiling water.

Put in the fridge to Set firm.

Mix 1 T. plain Gelatin with 1/2 C. cold water. Set Aside to soften. 

Whip 1 Pt. whipping cream with 2 T. sugar (I use Powdered sugar to avoid graininess)

add 1/4 C. hot canned pineapple juice and 1/4 c. hot water and 1 T. sugar to the plain gelatin mixture.  Mix , Cool slightly then add to whipped cream.

Cut Jello into small cubes and shapes.

Add Jello to the whipped mixture.

Put into the crust in the springform pan.

Sprinkle reserved graham cracker topping and refrigerate till ready to serve. (Chill at least an hour or two!)

NOTE: we tried this with Cool Whip recently and it worked! So those non-dairy types have something new and fun to enjoy!

OPTIONAL, this can be made in any kind of pan, just adjust your crust. If you want the broken glass to show in a clear pan/bowl just put crust on bottom and top. Would be pretty in a trifle dish!

Apple Brown Betty (Apple Crisp)

This recipe is one I remember from childhood. My mom made this from her old Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. I never knew how easy it was to make!! Now, I will never bother trying another!! Here goes:

Pre-Heat oven to 375 degrees
Spray your pan with Pam

If you have an "apple, peeler, corer, slicer" dig it out and use it on 4 granny smith apples.
If NOT,  peel, core and thinly slice those apples and toss them in an 8x8 or 9x9 pan.

In a food processor combine:
3/4 C. Packed Brown sugar
1/2 C. sifted Flour
1/2 C. Rolled Oats (I just use non quick cooking oats)
1 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. nutmeg
1/3 cup cold butter cubed
Mix together, toss over apples covering all and cook for 35 min. till golden brown.
Serve over vanilla ice cream
add some caramel sauce for an extra smooth bite!

Jam Tarts

I found this recipe online and it turned out amazing! I would say that the dough is very hard when you take it out of the fridge, then it softens very fast so you need to have your tart shells sprayed and floured before you take out the dough. I did mini tarts and they only cooked for 16 min at 375 degrees.

Marmalade Tart

The crust is Italian-style crostata, supposed to be very sweet. For pursuing a healthier eating habbit, I have cut down the sugar. It is sweet enough, but is still rich due to a high portion of butter and eggs.

The dough is very tender; good thing is rolling becomes so easy. But the dough will turn sticky quick (due to a lot of butter), so please do the cutting and fitting fast. Always lightly floured your hands should help too.

Recipe of marmalade tart

yield two 8" standard tarts or approx. 10 small tartlets, lattice top included

• superb quality of marmalade, made from organic fruit
• for the crust:
• 300 g flour =2.4 Cups
• 160 g butter, cold, and cubed less than ½ lb.
• 90 g sugar= ½ c.
• a small pinch of salt
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk (only)
• 1 Tbp cold water
• a bit lemon zest

How-to

• Pre-greased and lightly floured the pans. The 8" one should have a removable bottom.
• Pre-heat oven to medium/medium-high, about 350-375
• In a small bowl, whisk the egg, the yolk and a table spoon of water. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl OR Large Food Processor, combine the flour, salt, lemon zest and sugar.
• Use a pastry blender (Or the Food Processor), cut the butter cubes into the flour mixture until the whole content has a texture similar to very coarse corn meal. Combine with the egg mixture and form a smooth dough (Kneading briefly may be necessary, but must not over-do it otherwise the butter will start melting).
• Divide into three doughs, wrap each with clingwrap and rest them in fridge for half day.
• Roll out each dough to 1/4"-thick or less. Cut to fit your pan's size. If you make 8" tarts, two doughs go for the bottom crust. The last dough is for cutting to long strips.
• Fit each pan with bottom crust, fill with a thin layer of marmalade, arrange long strips on top or create lattice top if you like.
• Bake the tarts until they turn golden brown, time is various to the size. For the big one may take 30 mins, the small 20 mins.
• Optional I did some with strawberry jam and apricot. Spread them thin so they don't bubble up onto the mold.