Danish Pastry Braid

I found this recipe for a Danish pastry braid in the cookbook "Baking with Julia," by Dorie Greenspan. I've made the recipe twice, since I made enough pastry dough for two braids, and the practice certainly made it look a lot better the second time around. I found it helpful to watch the "Baking with Julia" episode where Beatrice Ojakangas demonstrated how she makes the braid to get an idea of technique. I found the trick is to be careful not to overfill the dough, so that the jam and cream don't spill out as you braid the dough together. If you make the dough in advance, you can make this pastry in just about an hour, as it takes very little time to bake. It tastes delicious with coffee for dessert, or even a luxurious breakfast. You can also glaze the pastry (with regular or coffee glaze) but I found that it was sweet enough without, so I chose to omit that step. If you're looking for a fun challenge, I recommend giving this recipe a try. Enjoy!

Danish Pastry Braid Dough

• 1 recipe Danish pastry dough 
• 1 egg yolk

Raspberry Jam Filling

• 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen)
• 2/3 cup sugar

Confectioner's Cream

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1.5 tbsp cornstarch
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough into a 10" x 16" rectangle.
3. Mentally section the dough into thirds, and cut 1" strips of the dough slanted away from the center on both the left and right sides. A video with the proper technique can be found here.
4. Spoon the jam filling down the center of the braid, being careful to stay away from the edges where the strips have been cut. 
5. Soon confectioner's cream over the jam in dollops.
6. Braid the dough strips (as shown in video) over the filling. 

 

   7. Brush the braid with egg white

   8. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve cool. Enjoy!

Mocha Cupcakes with Ganache Glaze

 I got a new cupcake pan that I really wanted to try out, so I decided to take some leftover chocolate and make these delicious cupcakes. I made these pretty late, so apologies for the harsh indoor lighting! The coffee in the recipe can easily be omitted if you prefer a chocolate flavor instead. I made these cupcakes with coconut sugar, and they turned out just as delicious as they do when I use white sugar. I also didn't use the traditional double boiler or heavy cream to make the ganache topping because I was looking for a quick method with ingredients I have on hand - but you can certainly go that route instead. These cupcakes look gorgeous, and taste even better the day after you make them - if you can wait that long. I didn't have raspberries on hand, but they would look and taste lovely with a raspberry on top of each cupcake for contrast. Serve these goodies at room temperature. Enjoy!

Here's the recipe:
Cupcakes

• 5 oz. dark chocolate
• 1 stick of butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp instant coffee powder
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup milk

Ganache Frosting

• 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• scant 1/3 cup whole milk or heavy cream

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2. melt chocolate and stick of butter in the microwave (I heated for about 40 seconds, stirring halfway.)

3. Whisk together eggs, sugar, coffee and vanilla extract, and cocoa powder until fully combined. 

4. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt and combine

5. Once the chocolate-butter mixture has cooled, add it to the egg mixture and combine. 

6. With a spatula, slowly combine dry ingredients with wet ingredients until the batter is smooth. 

7. Add milk and stir. 

8. Grease a 24 count cupcake pan well, and spoon batter into molds. Bake for 12 minutes, and then let cool.

9. When the cupcakes have cooled, microwave chocolate chips and milk for 20 seconds, and then stir together to combine until mixture is glossy.

10. Spoon ganache over the top of the cupcakes carefully, to glaze them. 

11. Let cool, and then serve. Enjoy!

Glazed cupcakes and Coco!

Blueberry Brunch Cake

This simple, yet gorgeous, blueberry brunch cake is the first recipe I ever was able to complete on my own. Over the years I've tweaked the recipe a bit, but the original can be found here.  It tastes great with either fresh or frozen berries (I used a bit of both since we ran out of fresh ones). Enjoy!

Cake:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 stick of butter, softened
• rind of 1/2 lemon
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 cups of flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1/4 cup milk

Filling: 

• 2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tsp flour
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg, ground

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

2. Grease a 9" springform pan. 

3. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

4. Add in zest of 1/2 lemon (approx. 1 tsp) and 1 egg.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in order to combine and sift.

5. Combine yogurt and milk until smooth.

6. Add dry ingredients and yogurt mixture alternately to large bowl with butter. Combine.

7. Spread batter on the bottom of the springform pan, and about 1/2" up the sides of the pan.

8. Combine blueberries, sugar, flour, and nutmeg for filling.

9. Spoon filling over the center of the cake, making sure filling doesn't spread over the sides.
10. Bake for 45 - 50 minutes, and serve warm. Enjoy!