Anne Willan

Shaping Danish Pastries

Appears in
top 1000La Varenne Pratique
La Varenne Pratique

By Anne Willan

Published 1989

  • About
Popular fillings for Danish pastries include jam, vanilla pastry cream, chopped apples or fresh cheese sweetened with sugar.
  1. Roll the dough to ¼ in/6 mm thickness and cut into twelve 4 in/10 cm squares. Brush the edges of each square with egg glaze.

  2. For envelopes: add the filling to the center of the square and fold the corners into the center.

  3. Press the corners firmly together with your fingertips to form a four-cornered package.

  4. For pinwheels: add the filling. Cut diagonally from each corner to within ¾ in/2 cm of the center.

  5. Fold the four alternate points to the center, pressing them down lightly to hold them in place.

  6. For Danish crescents: Cut the dough into triangles, as for croissants. Add a filling and shape like croissants.