Secrets to Danish Puff Pastry

Nothing says “Happy Valentine’s Day” like baking a Danish pastry and serving it to the one you love for a sweet breakfast. This pastry is light and, true to its name, boasts a lovely, puffy texture.

We found that we could streamline this two-dough pastry by making more pie dough than we needed, turning half of it into the crust, and then adding eggs to the other half to turn it into choux paste for the “puff” top. To make this pastry live up to its name, we added an extra egg and some water to help it puff higher. Slitting the sides of the pastry to let the steam out after baking dried out the inside and prevented it from imploding. The result? A pastry fit for Danish royalty.

HOW TO MAKE DANISH PUFF PASTRY

1. HALVE PIE DOUGH: After you’ve made the pie dough, set half of it aside to be used to start the choux pastry. Roll the other half into two equal ropes.

2. SHAPE PASTRY BASE: Press the ropes into 12 by 3-inch rectangles. Chill the rectangles in the refrigerator while you make the choux pastry.

3. START CHOUX: Combine the reserved pie dough with boiling water in a saucepan and cook, stirring, until the mixture is shiny and pulls away from the pan.

4. FINISH CHOUX: Move the cooked choux dough into the food processor. Slowly pour in lightly beaten egg mixture as the processor runs.

5. SPREAD AND BAKE: Cover each chilled dough rectangle with half of the warm choux dough. Bake the puffs for 1 1/2 hours.

6. GLAZE PUFFS: After the puffs have baked and cooled, ice them with a simple glaze and sprinkle them with sliced almonds.

MAKE IT NOW: Our recipe for Danish Puff Pastry is free through February 21, 2013.