Chocolate Almond Danish

Celebrating Valentine's Day with Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry...Sweet or Savory, either way, you'll have a winner on your hands : )

Click on "Read More" for the easy to do recipe

Adapted from Giada De-Laurentiis

Recipe for cheese mixture makes 8 danish, I only made 4 and used the remaining cheese for something else...

1/4 cup softened cream cheese

1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp flour
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1 oz grated semi sweet bakers chocolate (1 square)
1/2 cup slivered almonds, and two tsp for garnishing the tops of pastry
1 egg beaten (reserve for brushing on to the finished pastry before baking)

Mix all ingredients except chocolate and almonds (& beaten egg) together till smooth

Fold in 1 ounce grated semi sweet bakers chocolate and 1/2 cup slivered almonds

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

Roll out puff pastry sheet, be careful not to roll over the edge to avoid sealing the layers together

Cut into four equal size squares, place a few teaspoons of the cheese mixture into the center.  Fold one side over in a diagonal fashion, just over the top of the filling.  Brush the top of the folded over pastry with the beaten egg wash.  Fold the opposite corner over diagonally reaching towards the opposite side.  Brush top and sides with the egg wash, don't use the egg wash on the edges of the pastry to avoid sealing the layers together.

Place on parchment paper on a sheet pan ( I ran out and couldn't use any but they were just fine), sprinkle a few almonds on top of danish and place in oven to bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown and puffed and flaky looking. 

A great tip is to use a spray bottle with water to spritz the danishes and the inside of the oven before closing the door to create steam.  

I could have overlapped the top over a bit more...don't worry about the ends, they'll puff up and fill in beautifully.

The combination of the steam, not rolling the edges of the pastry, and not washing the edges with the egg all help to create the open layers you see here, all adding to the puffed flaky nature of the danish



I had some chocolate cheese leftover...check back here in the next couple of days to see what delicious and creative way I used it!

Thanks for reading, see you soon : )