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Danish Pastries

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Maple-glazed Danish pastries.

One of the best things about the holiday season is family traditions. We have many traditions in my family, and most of them revolve around ornaments or baking! When I was growing up this recipe for Danish Pastries was part of every holiday season. My mom always made them for Christmas, and every year we would eat them for breakfast on Christmas morning after we opened presents.

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Cinnamon rolls with walnuts and maple glaze on a plate.

I haven’t spent Christmas at my Mom’s house in 28 years and in all that time I have never tried to make my mom’s Danish Pastries myself. I guess I was intimidated, because they are a little complicated! But this year I called my mom and had her give me the recipe, and gave it a try. Now I can’t believe I waited this long to share this holiday tradition with my kids.

We have a bunch of our own family traditions of course. One thing we do every year is get special ornaments for our tree.

The whole family enjoys decorating the tree together and revisiting the ornaments that we haven’t seen since last Christmas and remembering when we acquired them.

Once I was in a nostalgic mood from looking at ornaments I was ready to brave my Mom’s Danish Pastry recipe. It turns out that it wasn’t nearly as difficult as I thought it would be. These pastries are kind of like cinnamon rolls, because they are rolled up with cinnamon and nuts, but the dough is a more flaky pastry crust.

A bowl of flour and a rolling pin next to Danish pastries.

Making the dough involves layering a bunch of butter with yeast dough, and rolling it in over and over again to mix the butter into the dough. When I first added the butter to the dough and rolled it together I ended up with butter squeezing out all over the place. My mom told me some butter would come out, but this was a huge gooey mess. So I figured I had done something wrong, but I put the resulting mess in the refrigerator as directed. In the morning the dough had risen, and it was all mixed together and no longer a mess!

A roll of dough with nuts, Danish Pastries with Maple Glaze.

After that the recipe was a breeze. The dough was easy to roll out and not overly sticky, and the complete opposite of what it had been like the night before. I rolled the dough out three times, and then refrigerated it again. Finally I rolled the dough into a rectangle, and covered it with cinnamon sugar and walnuts.

A cinnamon roll with a maple glaze is sitting on top of a pan.

Then I rolled it up and sliced it into pieces. I refrigerated the pastries for a few hours, and then baked them in the oven.

Danish pastries with maple glaze are sitting on a cooling rack.

The one thing I changed from my mom’s recipe was the icing. She always uses a simple glaze made from milk and powdered sugar, but I have never been a fan of it. Actually she used to always leave some pastries un-iced for me! So I mixed the powdered sugar with maple syrup instead, and drizzled Maple Glaze all over the pastries, and served them up.

Cinnamon rolls and Danish pastries on a plate.

The family enjoyed them, and are already suggesting we make them every year. And now that I know they are not as hard to make as I convinced myself they were we can!

5 from 3 votes

Danish Pastries with Maple Glaze

Published By Anne
Prep Time6 hours
Cook Time12 minutes
Total Time6 hours 12 minutes
Servings: 30
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Ingredients
 

Pastry

  • 1 1/4 cup butter
  • 6 Tablespoon flour
  • 1/4 cup warm water
  • 2 Tablespoon yeast
  • 2 teaspoon sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup cold milk
  • 3-31/2 cup flour

Filling

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 4 Tablespoon cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup walnuts chopped

Glaze

  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 3 Tablespoon maple syrup
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

Dough

  • Mix the butter and flour together in a food processor. Refrigerate.
  • Put the warm water in a bowl along with the yeast and 2 t. of sugar and wait 10 minutes, until the yeast is bubbly.
  • Stir in the eggs, 3 T. of sugar and the cold milk and mix until well combined.
  • Add the flour, 1 cup at a time until it is all mixed in.
  • Turn the dough onto a floured surface and work until smooth.
  • Roll the dough out into a square.
  • Add the butter mixture to the center of the dough and fold the dough over and seal the edges.
  • Roll the dough/butter mixture out into a long rectangle. Don't worry if some butter comes out, just stick it back inside the dough.
  • Fold 1/3 of the dough over, and top with the other third, forming 3 layers.
  • Turn the dough so the open end faces you and roll it out again and fold it over.
  • Wrap the dough and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.
  • Take the dough back out and repeat the rolling and folding 3 times.
  • Refrigerate the dough for another hour.

Pastries

  • Working with half of the dough, roll the dough out into a rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick.
  • Combine the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle on top of the dough, along with the walnuts.
  • Roll the dough up and cut into 1 inch thick slices.
  • Repeat with the other half of the dough.
  • Place on cookie sheets and refrigerate for 2 hours.
  • Preheat the oven to 350.
  • Back the pastries for about 12 minutes, until lightly brown.

Glaze

  • Whisk the powdered sugar with the maple syrup and cinnamon until the sugar dissolves.
  • Drizzle over the cooled rolls.

Notes

Nutrition facts are estimates.

As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information

Calories: 167kcal | Carbohydrates: 17g | Protein: 2g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 75mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 10g

Nutrition facts are estimates.

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Danish pastries with maple glaze.
anne

Hi, I’m Anne!

I love to cook and I want to share my recipes with you. I believe cooking should be approachable and fun, not a chore. I want to make simple recipes using everyday ingredients that you can make again and again, whether it is for a busy weeknight, a summer cookout or a special dessert. Read more...

2 thoughts on “Danish Pastries”

  1. I,m glad you finally made the danish. As to ornaments, are we related? I am out hunting vintage ornaments. maybe because they remind me of the ones my Mom had when I was growing up back in the dark sges.

    Reply

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