Freezer Danish Pastry Recipes

Steps:

• In a bowl, with a wooden spoon, beat butter and 1/4 cup flour until smooth.
• Spread on waxed paper (on wet surface) to 12 8" rectangle.
• Refrigerate on a cookie sheet.
• Heat milk slightly and add sugar and salt, stirring to dissolve.
• Cool to lukewarm Check temperature of water with a termometer (if necessary; should be about 105-115 deg).
• Pour into a large bowl and sprinkle with yeast; stir to dissolve.
• Stir in milk mixture, egg and 3 cups of flour; beat with wooden spoon until smooth.
• Mix in rest of flour with hand until dough leave side of the bowl (Ok, at this point you are wondering is all this worth a few danish's-- it is).
• Refrigerate, covered 1/2 hour.
• Turn out onto lightly floured pastry cloth; with covered rolling pin, roll into 16 X 12" rectangle.
• Place chilled butter mixture on half of dough; remove paper; fold other half of dough over butter; pinch the edges to seal. With fold at right, roll out from center to a 16 X 8" rectangle.
• From short side, fold dough into thirds, making three layers; seal edges; chill wrapped in foil, for about 1 hour.
• Repeat rolling and folding (if butter breaks through, brush with flour) seal egges; chill 1/2 hour.
• Roll; fold again, seal edges, chill, wrapped in foil for 3 hours or overnight.
• TO FREEZE: Divide cold pastry into thirds.
• Wrap each third in foil; seal, label and freeze.
• If desired, make up 1/3 into Cherry Pinwheels and 1/3 into Cinnamon Bear Claws Posted separately (Unbaked Danish pastry may be stored in the freezer for several months, if desired).

Steps:

• Pulse together the dry ingredients plus 2 tsp salt in a processor, then pulse in the milk and egg, plus 100ml water, until you have a smooth, slightly sticky dough. Knead for 1 min, using a little flour, until just smooth. Put into an oiled bowl, cover with oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hr until doubled in size (overnight in the fridge if you like).
• Flour your surface, then pat the dough out to a rectangle, 1cm thick. Lay the butter slices out over the middle of the dough, in a rectangle. Fold the pastry over the top, bottom and then sides until the butter is completely hidden. Press the edges down.
• Roll the dough out to a 50 x 30cm rectangle, first tapping out the dough with the rolling pin in gentle ridges, so that you can tell the butter is being squashed out evenly inside the pastry, before rolling properly. Turn dough 90 degrees, then fold the right third over and the left third over that. Do this three times, chilling for 15 mins after each roll.
• Cut the dough in half, into 2 squares. Roll one piece of dough to 35 x 35cm. Cut into 9 squares, then follow the instructions below for each filling and shape. If you want to make more than one shape, it's easy to divide the filling quantity. Don't worry if your squares rise as you work, just roll them out a bit again.
• To make 18 pecan pinwheels, whizz 85g pecans until fine, then stir in 50g light muscovado, 1 tbsp maple syrup and 25g softened butter. Cut each square of pastry almost to the middle from each corner, spoon on 1 tsp filling, then fold each point over and press into the middle. Scatter more chopped pecans and a little sugar over before baking. Drizzle with a little maple syrup to serve.
• For 18 apricot custard turnovers, you will need 150g tub custard, 2 x 320g cans apricots and a few tsps apricot jam. Put 2 tsp custard in the middle, sit two apricot halves on top, dot with jam, then pull 2 corners over and pinch to seal.
• To make 18 raisin swirls, mix 50g raisins, 25g caster sugar, 1 tsp mixed spice and 50g soft butter. Instead of cutting the dough into 9, leave it whole and spread the filling over. Roll up, slice into 9 rounds, then squash each one. Blend 50g icing sugar and a few drops of water to drizzle over once baked.
• Once shaped and filled, let the pastries rise for 30 mins until puffed and doubled in size. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Brush with beaten egg, make sure you pinch any edges together again, then bake for about 20 mins until golden and risen.