Almond Braid Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. Place the almond paste, butter and sugar in a food processor; cover and pulse until chopped. Add egg and flour; process until smooth., Place puff pastry sheets onto a greased baking sheet. Spread half of the filling mixture down the center third of 1 pastry sheet. On each side, cut 8 strips about 3-1/2 in. into the center. Starting at 1 end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling. Pinch ends to seal. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling., Bake until golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely., Combine the confectioners' sugar, milk and almond extract. Drizzle over braids; sprinkle with almonds. Cut into slices to serve.

Steps:

• Quick Method Danish Pastry:
• Measure 3 1/2 cups flour into a bowl or work bowl of food processor with steel blade in place. Cut the butter into 1/4-inch slices and add to the flour. Process or cut the butter into the flour until the butter is about the size of kidney beans.
• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the cream or milk, cardamom, salt, eggs, and sugar.
• Turn the flour-butter mixture into the liquid ingredients, and with a rubber spatula mix carefully just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours, overnight, or up to 4 days.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board; dust with flour. Pound and flatten to make a 16- to 20-inch rectangle. Fold into thirds, making 3 layers. Turn dough around and roll out again. Fold from the short sides into thirds. This should result in a perfect square. Repeat folding and rolling again if you wish.
• Wrap and chill the dough 30 minutes or as long as overnight.
• To make the Danish Pastry Braid:
• Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease and flour them.
• Divide the chilled dough into 2 parts. Roll each part out to make a rectangle 12 by 6 inches. Place these strips on the prepared baking sheets.
• To make the filling, cream the butter and sugar until light. Blend in the almond extract, almonds, almond paste, and egg white.
• Spread filling down the length of the center of the strips. Cut slanting strips at 3/4-inch intervals along both sides up toward the center using a pastry wheel. Fold strips over the filling in a crisscross manner
• Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
• Let strips rise for 15 to 30 minutes, just until the pastry strips look puffy; they will not double.
• To make a glaze, beat the egg with the milk or water. Brush the pastry lightly with it. Sprinkle the sugar and/or sliced almonds over the top.
• Bake about 15 minutes or until golden.
• Frost, if desired, with almond-water icing. Blend the sugar, water, and almond extract until smooth and thin enough to drizzle over the braids.

Steps:

• To prepare the pear filling, melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the brown sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt and stir to combine. Add the pears and cook, gently stirring occasionally, until they are tender, about 4 minutes. Transfer the pears to a plate and let the mixture cool completely.
• Use a coffee grinder to blend the almonds to a fine meal. Transfer the almond meal to a medium bowl. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons butter, the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, the confectioners' sugar, egg yolk and almond extract. Mash the mixture into a paste with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon.
• On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll the dough into an 11-by-14-inch rectangle. Arrange so a short side is facing you. With a bench scraper or the backside of a knife, very lightly mark off a 3-inch section lengthwise down the center of the dough. (Don't cut through the dough, you're just creating a guide for yourself.) Cut 1-inch strips perpendicular to the lengthwise guidelines, on either side of the 3-inch section. (These strips will be folded up to become the braided top.) Cut off the top and bottom corner strips, leaving the center flap.
• Spread the almond mixture down the 3-inch section of the pastry, leaving about an 1/8-inch border on all sides. Top evenly with the pear mixture, leaving any accumulated liquid on the plate.
• Beat the egg in a small bowl. Very lightly, brush a 1-inch border around the edges of the pastry with some of the beaten egg. (You'll be brushing the pastry that's been cut into strips, and the two end flaps.)
• Fold up the top and bottom ends of the center section to create a barrier for the filling. Starting at the top, fold each strip in at a slightly downward angle over the filling, alternating from left to right. Make sure the strips are overlapping by about 1/2 inch so they don't open up while baking. Using the parchment, move the filled pastry onto a rimmed baking sheet.
• Cover the pastry loosely with plastic wrap and let rest until slightly puffed, about 1 hour. Note the thickness of the strips when you first set it aside and use their growth as a guide. It's ready when the dough bounces back slowly when pressed lightly. (If it bounces back too fast, it hasn't risen enough; if it doesn't bounce back at all, it's gone too far.) While dough is rising, heat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Gently brush the top and sides of the pastry with some of the remaining beaten egg. Bake for 10 minutes then turn the pan and reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Bake until deep golden brown and puffed, 10 to 15 minutes more.
• Meanwhile, make the apricot glaze if desired. Heat the apricot jam in a small saucepan, stirring, until loose. Strain the jam through a mesh sieve into a small bowl; discard the solids. Brush a thin coat of apricot glaze over the warm pastry. Let cool slightly before serving.

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast in warm water.
• Mix together milk, sugar, and salt, and add to yeast mixture.
• Stir in butter and eggs.
• Add 1/2 Celsius flour and beat well.
• Add enough of remaining flour to handle easily and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
• Place in a greased bowl and turn once.
• Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Punch down and let rise again until almost double, about 30 minutes.
• Roll into a 8 by 14 inch rectangle and place on a greased baking sheet.
• Spread almond filling down the center of the dough about 2-3 inches wide.
• On both sides of filling make 1 1/2-2 inch cuts one inch apart down the length of the rectangle.
• Take one strip at a time and alternating sides cross them at the center of the filling.
• Bake at 350 F until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.
• If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

Steps:

• Lay out your puff pastry. Place your chocolate bar in the center, cut diagonal lines along the left and right side of the chocolate bar about an inch apart.
• Remove the corner pieces. Starting from the top, fold down the flap then alternate right and left until you are close to the bottom. Fold the bottom flap up and finish alternating between right and left. Tuck any extra puff pastry underneath.
• Place the braided puff pastry on parchment paper lined baking tray. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle crushed nuts over.
• Bake at 415°F (213°C) for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Unroll crescent roll dough. Place dough rectangles, long sides together, on greased baking sheet to form 15x12-inch rectangle. Press edges and perforations of dough together to seal.
• Spread 6-inch-wide strip of jam down center of rectangle; sprinkle with almond paste and 3/4 cup of the chopped chocolate. Make cuts, 1-1/2 inches apart, along both long sides of rectangle up to filling, using small knife. Alternately fold strips of dough over filling. Brush top with egg; sprinkle with almonds.
• Bake 25 to 30 min. or until golden brown. Cool 10 min. Melt remaining chocolate as directed on package; drizzle over braid. Let stand until chocolate is firm.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in extract. Fold in almonds and cherries; set aside. , Unroll crescent rolls on an ungreased baking sheet; overlap long sides to make at 12-in. square. Press perforations to seal. Spread the cream cheese mixture down center third of square to within 1 in. of top and bottom; fold top and bottom edge over filling. Bring long sides over filling and overlap. Pinch seam to seal., Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack. , Combine the confectioners' sugar, butter and enough milk to reach desired consistency; drizzle over top of loaf. Garnish with almonds and cherries.

Steps:

• Line a 15 inches x 10-in. baking pan with parchment paper. Unroll crescent dough into prepared pan; seal seams and perforations. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over dough.
• Combine the almonds, butter, extract and remaining sugar; spread lengthwise down center of dough. One each long side, cut 1-in. wide strips about 2 1/2 inches into center. Starting at one end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling. Pinch ends to seal. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 10 minutes; remove to a wire rack.
• For icing, in a bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, extract and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over braid; sprinkle with cinnamon. Serve warm.