My dough was made by hand, as I managed to entangle the dough hooks on my mixer and I now can't untangle them. (Although courtesy of a department store gift voucher awarded to me by my work, I now have a brand spanking new Kitchenaid sitting in a box in my spare room, just waiting to be unleashed. I will need it, as beating the cold butter for this challenge finished off the beaters of my old standmixer, which were already battered from the cheesecake pops.)
I made two braids - one was apricot with vanilla pastry cream, and the other was apple and almond filling. The vanilla pastry cream recipe that I used is here, and the almond filling recipe is here. You need to use this almond filling while it is still warm, as it sets rather firmly - I had to reheat it before use because it was too firm to spread over the base of the Danish. I thought that I would enjoy the apricot custard filling the most, but funnily enough, it was the apple almond filling that won my vote. Here is my apricot custard Danish being braided:Here are the braids just before proofing - the one on the left is the apple almond braid which I made after I'd practised on the apricot custard braid, and as you can see, it is a lot neater:
Regardless, both braids baked up nicely - the apricot is on the left, and the apple is on the right. You can't tell that the apricot one was a little untidy before baking.
Below is a cross section of each Danish after it was cut to reveal the filling:
With the leftover dough, I made some mini Danish - the top one is apple and custard, the right hand one is apricot custard and the left one is almond:
Below is a cross section of each Danish after it was cut to reveal the filling:
With the leftover dough, I made some mini Danish - the top one is apple and custard, the right hand one is apricot custard and the left one is almond:
I was really pleased with this challenge. The end result exceeded my expectations, and tasted delicious.
Thanks to Kellypea and Ben for their challenge selection this month. You can check out the recipe on either Kellypea's or Ben's site, and the Danish braids made by other Daring Bakers here.
42 comments:
Your braid turned out wonderfully!!! Great job!
Your braids and pastries look fabulous.
I contemplated apricot before deciding to go savory. I love the sunny sweetness yours impart, especially in the individual pastries.
Oh these look yummy
Wow, lovely braids. Love the color.
Your braids look beautiful and delicious! I love apricots...
Cheers,
Rosa
I can almost imagine having some of that custard and apricot danish :D
Ooh... apricot filling! Great idea and lovely braids!
ooo apricots gorgeous!!! this looks fantastic!
Your dough looks so, so flaky - wonderful job! Love the sound of the almond one!
I love the apricot filling and your braids are go-jus :). When I make this braid again, and I will, I'm deifnitely trying an apricot filling.
gorgeous braid as well and I love the apricots as the filling!
You chose one of my favorite combos. I bet the apricots and the cardamom were very delicious!
Lovely! :)
Your braids look beautiful!
Yum. The apricots look amazing. Your braid is beautiful as well.
Your braids look very nice :) I wish mine looked as nice as yours!! And apricot and pastry cream sounds delicious!!
I think your braids look cute. And the smaller ones look delicious.
And didn't they taste heavenly?
Yummie, I will test your almond apple filling soon.
Yum! I love apricots! And your braid looks so pretty!
Your filling choices sound fabulous and they both turned out so pretty! Good job!
Oooh, nice use of the extra dough!! They look killer!! Of course, so does the centerpiece braid. Yum!
What a fabulous golden color your braids have. I love the look of the apricots.
Your braids look wonderful! I love what you did with the little pastries.
Your braid looks fabulous!!!! You managed to plait it really well - I didnt do so well with mine!
Apricots, yummy! Sure it tasted delicious!
Your braid and little pastries look lovely and yummy. Congrats!
Wow - you did a really good job. Apricot is my favourite flavour for a danish pastry. YUM.
Sometimes it's nice to be proved wrong. Great braids!
I love your danishes..the apricots sound yummy!!!
Your braids and your minis all looks great! Well done! I used apricot in mine too.
I was nervous about making this too, but it turned out to be much easier than I thought.
Lovely..they look so golden and flaky. Well done.
Nice job! Your braids look so flaky. I love the apricot almond yummm
Oooh that looks great. Am glad you enjoyed this challenge. I did too...probably enjoyed this one the most to date! Love your choice of filling...YUM!!
The layering of fat and dough in your prebaked product is textbook!
I also was having my first time with danish dough. Yours turned out so lovely! I think the filling looks delicious!
Apricot and custard sounds absolutely AWESOME!
Your braids look fabulous. I love the apricots - great idea.
oooh, apricot! great idea! and your braids are gorgeous!
-Susan of http://doughmesstic.blogspot.com
Ooh.. a new kitchenaid! Can't wait to see the amazing things you'll be churning out with that baby! Lovely danishes, by the way. I kind of wish I braided mine tighter now.
Nothing like a new mixer! And nicely done on the challenge this month!
Mmm, mmm, mmm! These look great!
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