Around the World in 80 Plates: Denmark

Although the origins of the danish (the pastry that is) are Austrian, the Danish (the people that is) have perfected it. I was googling and I just got stuck on these delicious pastries. I haven't had one in awhile and to be honest I took a few short cuts because I really didn't have to time to make my own dough from scratch (but if you want to...there's a recipe for them in Artisan Vegan Cheese that sounds perfect!). I had a package of puff pastry up in the freezer and from my internet research it seems I'm not the first to think that it would work. I defrosted it overnight in the fridge then rolled it out until it was very thin (1/8th of an inch) on a well floured surface. I sprinkled the whole thing with cinnamon sugar and then folded it in half and rolled it out thin again. I borrowed some technique from one of my favourite sandwiches in Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day!, the Party Monster, for the shaping of my one giant danish. I marked it in thirds and cut 1/2 strips on the outer 2 leaving the center intact. Then I spread one jar of chunky peach jam on the bottom and 1 jar of strawberry jam on the top half (both recipes from Canning for a New Generation). I wove the strips over the top and tucked the ends (I really don't know how to explain it more clearly so now would be the time to grab your copy of Vegan Sandwiches Save the Day! and check out that Party Monster) and placed it on a piece of parchment and then on a baking sheet. Little thing I learned from that, it's not so easy so you might want to move it onto the parchment before you even cut the strips but especially before you fill it and wrap it up all pretty. It took a few spatulas and some quick manoeuvres to move it, trust me! I brushed the top with some soy milk and then sprinkled some demerara sugar on top and baked it at 425F for 22 minutes. I drizzled a simple icing sugar glaze on top once it cooled a bit just to add a bit more sugar since it was totally lacking before that.

I sliced a small bit of each flavour out for Mac, Ryan and myself and we all agree...it's delicious, especially when it's still a little warm! The peach was the winner for best flavour but strawberry was holding it's own too. I think the peach won simply because it had bigger pieces of fruit in the jam and gave it a bit of yummy peach texture. The cinnamon sugar inside gave a subtle but excellent hit of flavour in each bite and the sugar on top added a nice crunch. Before we even finished Mac was planning on when he would have some more...breakfast is what we landed on! 

Strawberry half

Peach half