Almond Paste Danish- Last Minute that Looks Like it Took all Afternoon

It's so easy to have a perfect virtual life. Remember that Andy Warhol film Sleep? Time- more than photo retouching or the thesaurus, is the decisive advantage in maintaining this faux reality. And time is what is always a little short during the holidays. That's why I am giving you a real-time, honest account of getting together this Danish, just in time for Christmas breakfast. I would not drag you back into the kitchen under false pretenses- this thing is fast and easy and has a huge "wow" factor, too huge, given the ease.

For a breakfast to be truly festive, a little planning has to seem to have gone into it. Any of the quick breads- muffins, zucchini breads, pumpkin breads, even scones- all delicious- are, on account of their very quickness, perhaps too everyday for a memorable holiday breakfast. There is a texture, even a structure to yeast raised breakfast pastries that makes them special. They are not heavier or richer necessarily, but are somehow more substantial. They are not quick. But having said that, they are not much effort either. My mother, not a baker by nature, has been making this Danish pastry dough for Christmas or New Year's breakfasts for years. It is a yeast raised, butter rich pastry, mixed with enough quickness and deft to ensure that the butter stays in small pieces throughout, melting as the dough bakes to leave flaky patches throughout. Egg yolks give more richness, a sunny color, and make the dough a fun texture to work with. The only thing not quick about this classic raised yeast breakfast pastry is that you need to let it rise a little, maybe overnight if that suits you.  Basically it's a whole lot of result for the effort- a serious, beautiful breakfast pastry- a flaky rich dough with an oozy filling, a diaphanous glaze.

As I'm writing it is 4:20. Just before 3 o'clock, I thought "Oh that Danish would be really good. Why don't I whip one up for us and also share it on the blog? It's a nice thing for the holidays."

By 3:05, I was taking this picture:

That's all the ingredients assembled. We have:

280 g/generous 2 C white flour

30 g/2 T sugar

a half teaspoon of salt- these are all in the silver bowl together.

125 g/ generous 1/2 C cold butter, cut into small pieces

8 g/ 1 envelope dry yeast, soaking in 60 ml/ 1/4 C warm water

125 ml/ generous 1/2 C milk, warmish

2 egg yolks (the whites are in another bowl, we'll use them in a minute)

I stirred the dry ingredients with my fingers and put in the cold butter in small pieces, then worked them around a squished them a bit to make a lumpy mixture, leaving plenty of bits of butter:

You can still see these bits of butter throughout- they give flakiness.

Whisk the yolks and the yeast and the milk together, and pout this over the flour/butter mixture. Stir with a fork:

You may need to mix with your fingers by the end, making sure to get to the flour at the bottom of the bowl. Mix until it just comes together into a rough ball- we want the small bits of butter the remain intact. It will look something like this:

No need to oil a clean bowl and turn the dough upside down in it- just leave it in the mixing bowl, put a plate on top, and put it in the refrigerator.

Time check- even with all the hand-washing and photographing in between steps, it's barely 3:15.

Now the filling. You could fill it with anything- a little lightly sweetened cream cheese blended with an egg, for instance. Jam in a pinch but it would be quite sweet. I made an almond filling, as I have a lot of almonds around:

200 g/ generous 1 1/2 C almonds- mine were skin on

50 g/ 4 T sugar

5 ml/ 1 tsp. almond extract

2 egg whites (leftover from making the dough!)

Grind the almonds and the sugar in the food processor until they are quite fine, and then add the egg whites and the almond extract:

Pulse until a soft paste forms:

The filling is none too sweet- you might want it sweeter, but I am fond of lots of glaze on my danish, and this way I can have it without the danish being too awfully sweet.

Time check- not 3:25!

By 3:30, the food processor bowl and blade were washed and the whole thing back in the cupboard.

After the dough has risen a couple of hours in the refrigerator, take it out, divide it into haves, and form pastries, any way you like:

I pat out his rough rectangle shape with my hands-
directly on the baking paper.
No need to dirty the counter or a rolling pin.

I then spread a little under half of the filling down the middle, folded the sides over, and snipped the edges here and there with a pair of scissors:

It looks not very promising, true. But wait....

Let the pastry rise for about 45 minutes- it will puff a bit- and bake it at 180 c/ 375  for about ten minutes. After the ten minutes, throw a handful of almonds onto a baking tray and put those in the oven as well, so they can toast while the pastry finishes baking until it is golden and just a little browned here and there. Once it cool, frost it- as liberally as you like, with:

Powdered sugar

some milk, or liquor, or juice

Mix a good teacup full of powdered sugar with a little rum or whiskey or canned milk, or orange juice- just a drop or two at a time, until a thick glaze forms, and drizzle this generously over the pastry.

Roughly chop the almonds you toasted along with the pastry, and toss them over the top:

You see- it's like night and day compared to the previous photo.

It's a joy to be in the kitchen, but not always possible. This has the requisite "ooh" for a special occasion, and frees you up to drink mimosas. Happy holidays!