Danish Pastry "Flowers"

I love making those for weekend mornings. I usually make the dough on saturday night, and place it in the fridge until morning. The boys love to wake up to the smell of freshly baked danish. Works great with hot chocolate and of course with a cup of steaming coffee.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup warm water

1 tsp granulated sugar

2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

4 cups all purpose flour

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup cold butter cut up

1 cup milk

2 large eggs fork beaten

1 large egg fork beaten

16 tbsp of raspberry gem, or apricot gem, or lemon curd

16 tsp of cream cheese cut in small thin cubes ( optional)

Icing sugar to dust.

Stir warm water and sugar in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved, sprinkle yeast over top. Let stand for 10 minutes.

Combine the flour,granulated sugar,salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Pour the milk into small saucepan. Heat and stir on medium heat until very hot. Transfer to a separate medium bowl. Let stand for 5 minutes to cool slightly. Slowly add the 2 fork beaten eggs.

Add the yeast mixture. Stir.

Add the yeast mixture to the  flour mixture, mixing until a soft dough forms. Place in a separate greased large bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with greased wax paper and tea towel. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.

This is how the dough looks after a night in the fridge.

Divide the dough in 2 portions. Roll out 1 portion on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle of about 8x16 inches. Cut the rectangle into 8 smaller rectangles.

Fold  the corners of each rectangle almost to the center. Press down to make a dent. Arrange on a, greased baking sheet( or lined with silicon mat). Brushed with the 1 egg fork beaten. Repeat with remaining portion of dough.

Place 1 small cub of cream cheese if using, and spoon 1 tbsp of gem on top. I made some with raspberry gem.

And some with apricot gem. Cover loosely  with wax paper and tea towel and let rest for another 15 minutes.

Bake in a preheated oven of 400˚F, for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool down on a cooling rack, sprinkle with icing sugar if desired.

Enjoy!