Archives for Yeasted sweets category
I didn’t follow any particular recipe here, just a general concept of traditional Italian, Tuscany originated dessert. Since the end product turned out mighty tasty, below is the recipe. Maybe someone would give it a try. And this is worth trying – fragrant and juicy with all these succulent grapes, and buttery pine nuts - there’s something to remember.
Long title? It is, indeed. The hardest part of the new challenge was to choose just one or two fillings for the Sherry Yard’s Danish dough. As soon as the new challenge was announced, my mind got overwhelmed with the filling ideas, not to mention – pastry forming ideas, as well. The first braid was the attempt to combine a lot of my favorite things inside one Danish crust. It was natural to me - I like my Danish filled well: it’s not all about the crust, I believe. It seemed logical to go with fresh seasonal fruits, so I chose Bing cherries as one of the filling components. I marinated them in Kirsch which enhanced their flavor (oh, well… I just like booze in my desserts, I guess…). The cherries was placed on the chocolate (brownie-like, almond flavored) and the home-made curd cheese (with addition of sour-cream and lemon zest) fillings that I formed into the logs and placed side-by-side in the center of the rolled dough. As I mentioned, the cherries was a second deck. And toasted coarsely chopped whole almonds went on top of the cherries. After the braid was baked and cooled, I drizzled an icing sugar glaze (diluted with Kirsch again) over the top and sprinkled some toasted sliced almonds over the glaze. I really liked the outcome. All flavors complemented each other nicely without overwhelming or competing. As you can imagine, one moderate slice was quite satisfying with all this filling inside.
Chocolate and Curd Cheese Cherry Almond Danish Braid recipe…
Here is the thinly rolled Danish dough (the half of the recipe given above) spread with cinnamon cream, folded in half, then cut into stripes and twisted-coiled. The centers are generously filled with apples sautéed in butter with an addition of brown sugar, lemon and orange zest, and spices. Then the streusel topping is sprinkled on the top of the Danishes. After the Danishes have been baked orange flavored sugar glaze drizzled over completes the picture.
Another filling is ricotta and cream cheese combined in equal proportions and run in a food processor with orange zest and just a touch of sugar. This method produces very smooth filling. The roasted strawberries went on top of the cheese mixture. The roasting makes even not-so-perfect strawberries taste great. And these particular ones were good from the start. After an hour spent in the oven, the berries had become even tastier, dark-red in color and extremely fragrant. To the still hot berries, I added some orange zest and a splash of Grand Marnier.
These buns are traditionally served on Good Friday. But I guess if we omit the crosses on top and bake them as sweet rolls they can be enjoyed any day. The buns are so nice slightly warm from the oven and lightly buttered. Or toast them the following day.
Rich buttery brioche dough with smart addition of chocolate and dried cherries turns into the best babka.
The result is worth the effort. But you have to plan baking this bread ahead of time – the dough needs to be refrigerated overnight.
The recipe is from “Chocolate Holidays”.
