Lazy Danish Pastries
You know why I call it lazy danish pastries? Because, I used store bought puff pastry. Don't judge! When a girl wants some pastries, she isn't gonna wait 5 hours to laminate the freaking dough layer by layer. I got to say, these danishes are a good way to feed your guests and impress them. You can improvise the fillings with whatever you have in your pantry. Use your imagination and creativity! AHAHAHA. This is such a cheat because puff pastries and anything goes well. You can even make this savory by putting chives and bacon...oh sounds so yummy!
I made some of the danish fillings myself...that's gotta count, yeah? Most of my danishes had the cream cheese fillings in them, and I topped the cheese with mixed berries, chocolate, jam...etc. I decided to hands on my maple pecan filling because I've been craving for the maple danish that accompanied my lonely working days in Montreal. Heh. You should really try the maple pecan filling because my family found it quite unique; they haven't tasted something like that before. So here's the recipe!
LAZY DANISH PASTRY
Makes 18 danishes (6-8pax)
2 sheets of store-bought puff pastry
Cream cheese filling
125g cream cheese
1 tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
Mix all ingredients together using a stand mixer until smooth.
Maple pecan filling
70g toasted pecans
5 tbspn maple syrup
1 tbspn cream cheese
1 tbspn cinnamon
Blitz all ingredients together in a food processor till the texture resembles coarse peanut butter.
Add more maple syrup if mixture is too dry.
Assemble
Preheat oven to 200'c.
Cut the sheet of puff pastry into squares of approximately 8cm x 8cm and shape puff pastries (See tutorial here on shaping danish: https://www.craftsy.com/baking/article/danish-pastry-shapes/)
Put cream cheese filling and top with frozen berries/jam on the shaped puff pastries and brush with an egg wash. Alternatively, you can fill the shaped puff pastries with the maple pecan filling and then brush with egg wash.
Put pastries spaced apart on the oven tray and bake till golden brown.
Tip: The puff pastry make look may look tiny before they are popped into the oven. But trust me, these babies will grow in the oven! So remember to put them apart on the oven tray.