Danish Puff

By á-25138

Ingredients

• For the base dough:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup flour
• 2 Tbsp. water
• For the pâte à choux layer:
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup flour
• 1 and 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• 3 eggs
• Glaze:
• 1 and 1/4 cups powdered sugar (you can use more, but I generally like my glazes with less than is usually called for)
• 2 Tbsp. butter, softened
• 1 and 3/4 tsp. vanilla (I use a lot of vanilla since we love the flavor–certainly reduce amount to suit you)
• 2 Tbsp. warm water
• sliced almonds, optional (I toast the almonds in a dry skillet for a couple of minutes)

Details

Adapted from cozycakescottage.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350°. In a small bowl, place 1 cup of flour and cut in 1/2 cup butter with a fork or pastry blender until butter pieces are the size of peas. Add 2 Tbsp. water and mix with a fork. Form mixture into a ball and cut in half. Place the halves on an ungreased cookie sheet and form them into rectangles about 12 x 3 inches. They don’t need to be perfect, but should be fairly thin.

In a saucepan, bring 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup water to a boil. Take off the heat and stir in 1 cup flour and almond extract. Return to low heat and stir until constantly until it forms a ball. Remove from heat. Add eggs to the mixture one at a time, stirring quickly (to be sure not to cook the eggs) until smooth. Spread half of the pâte à choux over each rectangle. Bake the puffs for about one hour–topping will be lightly browned and crisp. Let cool. Then top with glaze and almonds.

For glaze: Mix all glaze ingredients except for almonds in a bowl. If need be, warm in microwave for a few seconds to get a smooth consistency.