Peach and Basil Cheese Danish

by giraffescanbake // May 16, 2014 // 83 Comments

Yummy cheese danishes with a twist. Perfect for my second Fiesta Friday and my first FF Challenge!

After attending Fiesta Friday last week and having a blast, I knew I would be back! I met so many great bloggers and found so many lovely recipes, it feels great to be a part of it. For my second week I’m bringing along some lovely peach and basil cheese danish, I approached these very cautiously but they came out so much better than I ever could have imagined. The anise flavour in the basil compliments the juicy peach so perfectly, it’s a combination I’ll definitely be using more in the future! The danish pastry is so flaky and buttery, I had to give myself a pat on the back for making it so well on my first attempt! I am very happy to be entering these into the first FF challenge and I can’t wait to see what everybody else has made for it!

I have never made Danish pastry from scratch before, in fact I very rarely make any kind of pastry from scratch. My only excuse for that is that I’m lazy and the pre-made stuff turns out just fine. So approaching this bake was a bit of a nerve wracking one, I was sure something would go horribly wrong. However, one the required ingredients for the challenge is yeast so I knew I had to make this from scratch! I was pleasantly surprised by how easy the process is, I mean sure it’s labour intensive and it takes a long time but it certainly isn’t complicated. And despite it’s simpleness, successfully making it from scratch on my first attempt sure does make me feel accomplished. I want to make myself a little medal that says “made danish pastry from scratch and it was yummy” and wear it all the time! So if, like me, you’ve never done this before and you’re a bit unsure I say go for it! It’s easier than you think and the bragging rights are totally worth it!

At the bottom of this post I have included step-by-step instructions, with photos, on how I made it to help you along. I read a lot (A LOT) of blogs and recipes for danish pastry dough before making this and while most of them follow a similar vein, the one I found most helpful was by Joe Pastry, for the most part I used his recipe (with just a few tweaks) and his instructions on how to laminate the pastry (i.e. fold it to create layers) were super easy to follow. There’s a lot of great tips on his site so I definitely recommend checking it out. Most resources will tell you to use Danish butter to get an authentic Danish pastry taste, and while the Danish butter may be higher in fat and have a slightly tangier taste I personally don’t think it’s necessary if you don’t have easy and cheap access to it, a high quality butter will work fine I am sure. I, however, did use Danish butter because I live in the UK and it’s readily and cheaply available to us here.

The other required ingredient for the challenge was a herb. I knew I wanted to make something sweet because that’s what I do best (I’ve yet to post a savoury recipe to this blog!) and basil was the first thing that came to mind. Basil is a staple in Italian cooking but due to it’s sweet anise like flavour, it can be a great addition to a sweet dish. I’ve never actually had basil with peaches before, but the idea of the sweet, juicy peaches combined with the fragrant basil really struck me as great. And I wasn’t disappointed. This is a flavour combination you just have to try to understand how yummy it is.

I used canned peaches in this recipe for two reasons. The first being that my local supermarket didn’t have any fresh peaches and the second being that I have a bad history with trying to peel peaches – Leah (the BFF) and I made peach cobbler once and while the results were scrummy, it took us a very long time to peel the peaches. The quickest way to apparently peel a peach is to drop them in boiling water for 30 seconds and then immediately transfer them to ice cold water, the skins are supposed to slip right off. It didn’t work out that way for us and we had a very frustrating hour removing all the skins! So I decided not to risk that fiasco again and went for the can! Fresh peaches may have produced a fresher result and please feel free to use them instead, but the canned ones worked out great and it left me with lots of peach juice to use in the glaze!

There then is, of course, the cream cheese filling. I’m a huge fan of cream cheese in any dessert and there’s no better dessert to pair it with than a Danish! The beautiful pastry is oozing with the sweet cheese filling, it also has a peach and cream cheese glaze to top it off and create my new favourite Danish pastry! Honestly, these are so yummy I’m having to force myself not to eat them all up! My mum is also pretty mad at me because she’s just started a new diet so she can’t have any!

I will be bringing plenty along to FF16 so I hope you guys enjoy them as much as I did! I can’t wait to try what everybody else brought along. And of course a big thank you to Angie for hosting this and Catherine for co-hosting the challenge! You should definitely check out their blogs if you haven’t already, so many wonderful things you’ll be there for days! Thank you to Stacey and Elaine for co-hosting this week’s Fiesta Friday with Angie, I have only been introduced to their blogs today but already I can see they are wonderful, please do check them out if you haven’t already – I’ll be delving deeper once I’ve finished with this post!

And now for the recipe! A step-by-step photo guide for the pastry will follow the initial recipe.

[recipe title=”Danish Pastry Dough”]
Ingredients

2/3 cup milk, room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar
7g package instant active yeast
2.5 cups plain/AP flour + 2 tbsp (plus more for flouring the surface)
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg, room temperature
250g butter, room temperature

Method

Combine the milk, sugar, yeast, 2.5 cups flour, salt and egg using a dough hook in a stand mixer. Mix for about 5 minutes until the dough is smooth, it will be pretty sticky still. Place the dough in a bowl and cover, leave to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then place in fridge for at least 1 hour.
When you’re ready to start folding and layering your dough, you need to make your butter slab. Lay out a double layer of plastic wrap and place the butter on top, cover with the 2tbsp flour. Place another double layer of plastic wrap over the top. Using a large rolling pin beat the butter until it is mostly flat. Pull up the plastic wrap and roughly cut the slab into a square, placing the cuttings back on top. Repeat the beating process! You’re done when the butter is a play-doh like consistency, and not greasy looking at all. Once you have this, use the rolling pin to push it into a rough square and set aside.
Remove your dough from the fridge and on a floured surface roll it into a rough square, slightly bigger than your butter slab. Place the butter slab on top and fold the dough around it like an enevelope. Seal all the seams.
Now you want to grab your rolling pin and lightly beat the edges of the dough/butter packet to encourage the butter to come to the edge. Then roll out it into a rectangle.
Fold the dough like a letter – bring one side in the centre and then fold the other side over that. Place back in the fridge for 20 minutes. Then roll out into a rectangle and fold again. You’ll want to repeat this process until you’ve folded it four times.
Place the dough back into the fridge for at least 30 minutes (up to 3 days) or until ready to use. You could also freeze some of the dough to use at a later stage if you wish.

[/recipe]

[recipe title=”Pastry Fillings”]

Ingredients

For the peach and basil filling:

1 can of peaches, drained and juice reserved (or 2 cups of fresh peaches). Chopped into large chunks
2 tbsp corn flour
3 tbsp fresh basil, finely chopped
1/4 cup honey
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp cinnamon
1 egg

For the cream cheese filling:

115g full fat cream cheese
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper
Toss the chopped peaches in the cornflour and put in a small saucepan. Add the basil, honey, lemon juice, zest and cinnamon. Bring to the boil and heat on high for 2 minutes. Reduce heat and simmer for a further 10 minutes. Remove from heat and leave to cool
Mix together all the cream cheese filling ingredients using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or beaters until fully combined.
Remove the pastry dough and cut in half. Replace one half in the fridge until ready to use. Roll the over half out into a long rectangle. Cover half the rectangle in half of the cream cheese filling and fold the non cream cheesed half of the dough over it.
Using a pizza cutter (or pastry cutter if you’re fancy), cut into strips about 1inch thick. Stretch the strips out and then twist them into a spiral. Then coil it around itself to make a spiral/pinwheel. Repeat with all the strips and place them onto a lined baking tray. Create a well in the centre of each pastry. Mix the remaining egg with a splash of water and brush the pastries with them
Fill with about a tbsp of the peach and basil mix.
Bake for 20-30 minutes (mine took 30 as I have a cold oven) until the pastry is golden brown. Leave to cool on a wire rack
Repeat with the other half of the dough.

[/recipe]

[recipe title=”Peach and Cream Cheese Glaze”]
Ingredients

3 tbsp cream cheese
2 tbsp peach juice (reserved from draining canned peaches)
4 tbsp caster sugar

Method:

Mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Spoon into a piping bag and snip off the tip. Pipe the glaze over the cooled pastries, using as much as personally desired

[/recipe]

How to fold the dough and create the pinwheels (apologies for the poor quality of these photos)

Place your butter on a double layer of plastic wrap. Sprinkle flour on top and and place another double layer of plastic wrap over the top. Beat with a rolling pin until flat. Cut into rough square and place cuttings on top, beat again and shape into a rough square

Roll your dough out into a rough square that is slightly larger than the butter slab

Place the butter slab on top like so…

Fold the corners of the dough around the butter slab and seal the edges

Lightly beat the edges of the package with the rolling pin, turning as you do. Do each edge about 5 times, to encourage the butter to the edge of the dough. Then roll out into a long rectangle

Then fold like a letter, like so

Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes, roll out again and fold like a letter again. Repeat this so you’ve folded it 4 times. Then wrap in plastic wrap and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

Don’t panic when you open the fridge and it’s ballooned up, I was surprised when this happened but it’s normal. The following was after 24 hours in the fridge

Once you’re ready to start shaping your pastries, remove the dough from the fridge and cut in half. Replace one half into the fridge for later (or freeze it if you want to save it – the full dough makes about 12 pastries)

Look at all those lovely layers

Roll out into a long rectangle. Cover the lower half of the rectangle in half of the cream cheese filling and fold the other half of the dough over. Cut into 1inch thick strips and stretch out each strip

Twist the strips into a spiral

Coil into a pinwheel. Place on the lined baking tray and make a well in the centre. Brush with egg wash.

Fill with the peach and basil mix and bake!

I hope these photos helped explain my process better! Let me know if you have any questions. Do check out Joe Pastry’s “How to Laminate” post for more tips and photos!

Have a great Friday everybody!

Blueberry Cake Donuts

by giraffescanbake // May 10, 2014 // 20 Comments

Delicious blueberry cake donuts, baked not fried!

Today, May 10th, is World Lupus Day and these donuts are the perfect accompaniment for today, since the international lupus colour is purple! Today is a pretty big deal to me because not only do I live with lupus every day, but awareness is extremely important to the cause. There is currently no cure for lupus and in the last 50 years there has only been one drug developed to treat lupus (which isn’t available in the UK) we just borrow drugs from cancer and arthritis treatments. For more drugs to be developed and better diagnosis we need more research and for that we need funding and for that we need people to actually know and care about this disease so they donate money and raise funds, and despite at least 5 million people having lupus worldwide (probably a conservative estimate since lupus can go undiagnosed for years) most people don’t know what it is. That’s why days like today are so important! Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is the type I have and it’s an autoimmune illness that affects all parts of your body, the simplest way to explain it is your immune system attacking the healthy cells in your body (like your organs or joints). It is a debilitating disease that can be fatal. If you’d like to read up more on it please do so here and feel free to ask me any questions. If you have a few pennies spare and would like help further research and improve the lives of people with lupus you can donate here (UK) or here (US)

Thank you so much for reading that, now onto the fun part: Donuts!

Today is also Eurovision and I’m very excited about it! For those of you not in Europe, Eurovision is a song contest between a bunch of countries in Europe. Its weird and slightly politically passive aggressive but it’s a beloved tradition and most of Europe gets very into it. To get a feel of how weird and wonderful Eurovision is, watch Russia’s entry for 2012 below (it’s worth watching guys, just wait ’til you get to 1:32!) and no, this isn’t a one off crazy entry – this is the true essence of Eurovision!

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOTBIJCAnKE]
So today’s post is also dedicated to Eurovision by being very American! There are few things I enjoy more than a blueberry cake donut from Dunkin’ Donuts, I could eat a mountain of them. Don’t give me the munchkins because I’ll eat two dozen in one sitting! Unfortunately, Dunkin’ Donuts are few and far between in the UK (probably more fortunately for my waistline and bank balance!). Naturally, I decided to make my own version at home!

I don’t really like blueberries by themselves, but put them in something and bake it? Yum! I don’t know why that is, but who am I to question the laws of yumminess? These donuts are great, they have a dense cake like texture to them and are bursting with juicy blueberries. They’re finished with a sweet and sticky blueberry glaze, I just drizzled mine on top but you could also dip them fully in it if you want them extra sweet!

I don’t know what they put in theirs at Dunkin’ Donuts or how they bake them, but I’m willing to bet these ones are much healthier! They have no butter in them and only a small amount of oil. They’re also baked, I don’t trust myself with a pot of hot oil (considering I fell down today and ripped part of my nail from it’s bed that was probably a good call!) which is one of the reasons I didn’t fry them. I used a donut pan to bake these, but if you don’t have one you can always use this recipe to make munchkins(a mini muffin pan would work great for that purpose!).

The secret to a great blueberry taste is orange, it really brings out the flavours of the blueberries and makes them extra yummy in anything! If you can, I would recommend making the glaze at least few hours ahead of baking so the blueberry flavour has time to develop with the orange.

This blueberry cake donut recipe is so easy to make and super yummy, I hope you enjoy them!

[recipe title=”Blueberry Cake Donuts” servings=”18-20″]

Ingredients

For the donuts:

190g plain flour
120g cast sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg, room temperature
180g 0% greek yogurt
3 tbs milk
80ml vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one orange
300g fresh blueberries

For the glaze

80g fresh blueberries
juice from 1/2 orange
250g icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and lightly grease your donut pan
Put the flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb and salt in a bowl. Lightly mix with a balloon whisk to air out and remove lumps*
Put the greek yogurt, oil, egg, milk and zest in a bowl and whisk to combine. Gradually add the dry ingredients, whisking to combine and remove lumps.
Once all combined, fold in the blueberries until evenly distributed
Spoon the mixture into a piping bag and snip of the end (if you don’t have any piping bags, a zip lock bag will work fine) and pipe the mixture into the donut moulds.
Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the tops are a dark golden colour. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely
To make the glaze, puree the blueberries in a food processor and add the orange juice, combine. Add the icing sugar a few spoons at a time and process until it’s all combined. Spoon the glaze over the top of the donuts and leave to dry on wire rack for 10 minutes – the glaze will stay sticky.

Notes:

*This is the cheats way of avoiding sifting! I like to dirty as few items as possible so I tend to use this method quite often!
Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days
I wouldn’t recommend using defrosted frozen blueberries as they’ll have too much moisture

[/recipe]

Spiced Chocolate & Orange Hot Cross Buns

by giraffescanbake // April 18, 2014 // 1 Comment

The perfect recipe for this Easter weekend!

I’d been thinking about what to bake for Easter for a while and my mind kept going back to hot cross buns, even though I’m not a huge fan of them. So my challenge was to make these traditional Easter buns even more festive and tasty, and so these spiced chocolate & orange hot cross buns were born, I think I did a pretty good job!

These sweet and sticky buns are loaded with chocolate just like the Easter bunny intended and warmed up with lovely spices and hints of orange. They’re finished off with a gooey, sticky orange glaze to give them that extra yum factor!

These do require a little patience to make, but with only two rising times you’re not doing too badly for a hot cross bun recipe! And even though they’re “quick”, you won’t see any decrease in yummyness (a technical baking term), they’re still soft and delicious! It’s a fairly simple recipe too, and a bit of a messy one while you’re rubbing the butter into the flour, cocoa, spices and salt with your fingers. Then it’s spoon city as you stir in the sugar and yeast and then beat in the eggs and milk. Knead. Rise. Knead some more (adding chocolate and orange!) and rise again until finally it’s time for the oven (but not before those all important crosses!), then you just glaze and eat! These are best served warm and with lashings of butter, preferably this cinnamon honey butter because it’s to die for!

Hot cross buns are traditionally served on Good Friday so I am a little late with this post, but let’s be honest you can enjoy these yummy buns all Easter weekend, even all year (I know, I’m just talking crazy now!!). It may be midnight in the UK, but it’s never too late to whip up a batch of yummyness, so get your apron on and get baking, you’re family will thank you!

[recipe title=”Spiced Chocolate & Orange Hot Cross Buns” servings=”12″]
Ingredients

For the buns:

400g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
25g cocoa powder
1tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1tsp salt
85g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
100g golden caster sugar
2 sachets dried instant yeast (7g each)
1 large egg, room temperature
190ml lukewarm milk
75g dark chocolate, chopped
Zest of 1 orange
75g chopped candied orange peel

For the crosses:

75g strong white flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
5tbsp cold water

For the glaze:

Juice of 1 orange
50g golden caster sugar

Method

For the buns:

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, spices and salt into a bowl. Add the chopped butter and, using your gingers, rub the butter into the flour mix until you get a breadcrumb texture. Stir in the sugar and yeast and make a well in the centre
Whisk together the warm milk and egg and pour into the well, quickly beat with a wooden spoon until combined.
Knead on a lightly floured surface for around 10 minutes, until you have a soft, smooth dough. Put in a large, lightly oiled bowl covered with oiled cling film. Leave to rise for an hour in warm place until doubled in size
Place the risen dough on a lightly floured surface and knead in the chocolate, zest and candied peel until it is all distributed evenly.
Divide into 12 equal balls and shape into smooth buns. Place on a lightly oiled baking tray, leaving a small gap between each roll. Cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to prove in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. The buns should now be getting cozy and touching each other.
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F

For the crosses:

Mix the flour, oil and water together to form a smooth paste. Pop into a piping bag and snip the end off.
With a serrated knife, score the tops of the buns with a cross. Pipe the mixture along the lines, you can use your knife to cut off the flow.
Bake the buns in the oven for 15-20 minutes until firm to the touch

For the glaze:

Put the sugar and orange juice into a small pan and heat on low until all the sugar as dissolved
Bring to the boil and bubble until thickened, around 3 minutes.
Once the buns have been removed from the oven, turn out onto a cooling rack and glaze.

Notes:

The buns are best served warm
They will stay fresh in an air tight container for about 3 days, but buns that are going stale will still be great toasted
You can freeze them too, just wait to glaze them. Once defrosted, warm through and glaze before serving.

[/recipe]
Happy Easter Everybody!

Cinnamon Honey Butter

by giraffescanbake // April 15, 2014 // 9 Comments

We all remember those special moments in our life, the momentous occasions that helped shape who we are; the first time you fell in love, your first kiss, the day you graduated, the first time you tried this cinnamon honey butter….

Oh yes, it really is that good. I spread it on a nice, warm bagel and I was in heaven. How I stopped myself digging in and just eating it up with a spoon I’ll never know! It’s so sweet and buttery with a real cinnamon kick that keeps you coming back for more. Maybe I’m a little biased because cinnamon is my absolutely favourite flavour in the world and if you add it to something I’m sure to love it! But really, this butter is amazing!

I made this butter to go with the hot cross buns I made for Easter, the recipe for which I’ll be sharing with you this weekend but I just had to share this cinnamon honey butter recipe with you first! This butter will go great with pretty much anything you could dream to put it on; bagels, dinner rolls, biscuits, baked sweet potatoes, waffles, pancakes, banana bread, EVERYTHING! I will be making this butter every chance I get and I’ll slather it on everything I possibly can to the point where I may have to make my next post from a hospital bed after my butter induced heart attack! (I’m kidding of course… hopefully!).

And what makes this butter even more awesome? It’s so simple and quick to make, with only 3 ingredients! You can whip this up in a matter of minutes and you’re on your way to a buttery, cinnamon heaven! It’s also super simple to adjust to suit your personal tastes. What could be more perfect than a recipe that’s super easy to make and will transport you to a state of bliss?

If you can bear to part with it, you could even package this up in cute little jars and give it away as Easter gifts. What better way to start Easter Sunday than with a slice of toast with this smothered all over it, before you break into all the yummy chocolate!

Okay, I will stop teasing you! Here’s the recipe

[recipe title=”Cinnamon Honey Butter”]
Ingredients

200g good quality unsalted butter, softened
4 tbsp good quality, clear honey
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Method

Combine the all the ingredients in a bowl using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or hand mixer with beaters. Beat for 3 minutes.
Serve at room temperature

Notes:

It will keep in the fridge in a sealed container for a few weeks, I doubt it’ll last that long though!
Makes approximately 1/2 cup of butter, you can divide or multiply the quantities to make as much as you need
Adjust the amount of honey to make it more or less sweet, same goes for cinnamon.

[/recipe]

Happy Pancake Day Y’all!

by giraffescanbake // March 4, 2014 // 1 Comment

British Style!

Today is Shrove Tuesday which is a day observed by some Christians, it’s the day before Ash Wednesday when Lent starts. In some places it is celebrated with Mardi Gras, a carnival celebrating the last indulgence before Lent starts. In little old Britain we celebrate it with Pancake Day! Personally, I love pancakes so I think I prefer our tradition. I believe pancake day came about as a way to use up the eggs and milk you have before you start fasting, at least that’s what I was always told.

Our pancakes are a little different to US pancakes. Ours are more like crepes I guess, I’m not sure what the difference between crepes and pancakes are, I’ve never made crepes (maybe there is no difference, that’s a google for another time) . The traditional way to eat them is with caster sugar and lemon juice, it also happens to be my favourite way to eat them. American pancakes are a different matter, they are best with lots of syrup and bacon yum yum! I love both types equally. Today I had these pancakes, tomorrow we’ll be going out to the original pancake house for some fluffy American pancakes (maybe without the bacon since it’s Ash Wednesday and meat isn’t allowed).

You can put pretty much whatever you like on pancakes though, my other favourites include Nutella and ice cream! The pancake batter is just flour, eggs, milk, salt and a little butter, which means you can pair them with anything savoury or sweet making them super versatile.Let me know your favourite type of pancakes and how you like to eat them in the comments!

When I was younger, pancake day was about stuffing yourself with as many pancakes you could possible cram in, until you couldn’t move for hours. Today, I limited myself to just three like an adult! I only made a little batter since it was only me in the apartment! It’s a really simple batter to make, you just mix flour, eggs, milk, salt and a little butter together until smooth and thin and then you’re ready to go. The secret to making a good pancake is getting your pan really hot and then turning it down to a medium heat just before you pour the batter in. This is much easier to achieve when you have a gas stove (which I don’t here) but you can manage it with electric. My other tip would be to do a test pancake first to see how much batter you need (I find about 3 tbsp is good for a 10″ pan), then use a ladle or something similar to pour the batter in the pan as you want it all in the pan at once so it cooks evenly.

Have a great day everybody. If you observe lent, let me know what you’re giving up in the comments below!

[recipe title=”Pancakes” servings=”6-8 10inch pancakes”]
Ingredients

110g plain flour, sifted
pinch of salt
2 eggs
200ml milk
50g unsalted butter

Method

Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl from a height so the flour gets a good airing. Make a well in the centre of the flour and break the eggs into it. Whisk the eggs into the flour.
Gradually add the milk and continually whisk. Don’t worry about any lumps, they’re disappear as you go. When all the liquid is added, scrape down the sides to make sure its all incorporated.
Melt the butter in your pan and add two tablespoons of it to the batter and whisk in. Pour the rest of the melted butter into a bowl and use it to oil your pan, using paper towel to smear it around the pan before each pancake.
Now, get the pan really hot and then turn the heat down to medium. Pour the batter into the pan, as soon as the batter hits the pan tip it from side to side to get the base of the pan all covered. It should only take a minute or so to cook, you can lift the edges up with a fish slice to see if its browning. Flip the pancake over (with your fish slice, or with your mad flipping skills if you have them!) the second side will only take a few seconds. Then just slide it out of the pan onto a plate.
Stack the pancakes with sheets of parchment paper in between, with the plate on top of a pan of simmering water to keep them warm while you make the rest
Serve immediately with the toppings of your choice.

[/recipe]

Another breakfast bake: Peanut Butter & Chocolate Rolls

Another British Fave: Viennese Whirls

Yummy breakfast: Easy Cinnamon Rolls