Saturday, October 11, 2008

Danish Puff

Hey Look, two recipes from Mom in two days! She must be famous.

And she is, round these parts. Especially for certain foods. Things like Coffee Cake, Sauerbraten & Spaetzles, Chimichangas and the list goes on. Perhaps we'll get around to making these recipes, but the reason my mom is famous for them is because they're so labor intensive that only SHE will undertake them. And only for special occasions.

Danish Puff is one of her special occasion foods. It was usually made for Christmas Breakfast. As my brother Andrew put it, "I always thought that Danish Puff required hours and hours of work because Mom would get up SO early in morning to make it. Turns out, Mom just likes to get up early, and Danish Puff is a cinch."


My husband claims Danish Puff is NOT a breakfast food. He strongly believes it to be a dessert and will only eat it as such. But not in my family; not with our history of sweet tooth.

Danish Puff
from Mom aka Ruth Solter

Crust:
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c flour
2 Tbsp water

Topping:
1/2 c butter
1 c water
1 tsp almond extract
1 c flour
3 eggs
1/4 c sliced, lightly toasted almonds (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut 1/2 c butter into 1 c flour until particles are the size of small peas. Sprinkle the 2 Tbsp water over flour mixture. Mix until pastry gathers into a ball. Divide into halves. Pat and press each half into a rectangle approximately 12 inches by 3 inches on an ungreased cookie sheet. Place about 3 inches apart.

Heat 1/2 c butter and 1 c water to a rolling boil, and remove from heat. Quickly, stir in almond extract and 1 c flour. Stir vigorously over low heat until mixture forms a ball, about one minute. Remove from heat. Add eggs. Beat until smooth, about 2 minutes. Spread half of topping over each crust rectangle. Bake until topping is crisp, puffed, and brown. About 40 minutes. Cool slightly. Topping will fall. Spread with Powdered Sugar Glaze. Sprinkle with almonds if desired.

Powdered Sugar Glaze

1.5 c powdered sugar
2 T butter, softened
1.5 tsp vanilla
2 T warm water

Mix together the powdered sugar, butter and vanilla. Add water 1 tsp at a time to desired consistency.

2 comments:

Valarie said...

I'm so glad you posted this. I was craving something sweet and buttery the other day (and no, not for breakfast). I could vaguely remember you posting this somewhere before and thought it sounded really yummy. I was going to go see if I could dig through all you're old blogs or even email you. You've saved me the trouble. :)

Alissa said...

so glad i could help out!