Week 12 Part III

Danish Braid with Cream Cheese and Cherry Filling* ☆☆☆ ☆ ☆ [pgs. 444-447 FBB]
(Sorry I can't link the copyrighted recipe. You will need to borrow the cookbook from the library. :-P)

Recently, I borrowed a cookbook from the library called The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book [FBB] and I loved it so much I bought a copy. The first recipe I attempted was a Danish Braid. I love sweet breakfast stuff and the book made this look pretty straight forward.

Surprisingly, my finished product looks very similar to the picture in the book. I had trouble getting my cherry filling to thicken and so the finished product is quite messy despite my efforts to try to clean it up before I put it in the oven. I should have stuck with just the cream cheese part of the filling. My pastry didn't puff during the rest period and it is possible the house was too cold. As the pastry baked, there was sort of a puddle of butter around the pastry, which was not very appetizing, and it created quite a mess in my oven. (Oh well, it was time to  clean the oven anyway.)

I appears, pastry chef I am not. At least not the sort of pastry with a flaky, buttery crust. I am thinking this is one pastry better left to professionals, especially since it should be a rare treat anyway. However, after fussing with the pastry to get it off the parchment paper and giving the finished product a taste test, I have changed my mind. Certainly, this is not something I will make on a regular basis, but I believe I will give it another try later this year.

Solutions to a few problems include baking the pastry on a cookie sheet with sides to prevent the problem in the bottom of my oven. Measuring the ingredients for the cherry filling more closely to insure the juice sets up correctly. Creating a warmer spot in the kitchen for the pastry to rise and/or allowing a bit more time for the rising.

Regarding taste, this pastry was very good. It is buttery (love!) and I particularly enjoy the combination of sweet cream cheese and tart cherries. My only disappointment is that the crust wasn't more flaky. Both Tom and I would give it five stars, but then how could you not considering all the butter. Yum! Julia Child would agree, everything is better with butter; lots and lots of butter.