Danish Baking – Custard Crowns (Spandauer)
You see these everywhere across the world – but make them at home and you’ll know the real taste. These are absolutely divine. Granted, it takes a bit of work – but freshly baked Danish pastries, well, there is nothing quite like it.
Ingredients
- 1 portion of Danish Pastry dough see our blog
- 1 portion of Remonce filling see blog
- ¼ portion of pastry cream or raspberry or blueberry jam, if preferred (see blog)
- 1 egg for brushing
- 3 tbsp roughly chopped hazelnuts
- 100 g icing sugar
Instructions
- On a lightly floured surface, carefully roll out the dough and cut into 12–14 squares of around 10 x 10 cm each.
- Place a generous teaspoon of remonce almond paste into the middle of each pastry square, then carefully fold each of the 4 corners in to meet in the middle, using the sticky remonce to hold the corners down. Use your thumb or a fork to secure the pastry. Place the pastries on the prepared baking sheets, then cover with cling film and set aside to rise for 20 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F) Gas 6.
- Brush the tops of each pastry with a little of the beaten egg mixture. Add a teaspoon of your preferred filling (pastry cream OR jam) into the centre of each square. Lastly, add a sprinkling of chopped toasted hazelnuts to the centre as well.
- Bake in the preheated oven for around 10–15 minutes or until golden brown, then remove and allow to cool before decorating. You may need to bake these for longer – it really depends on your oven, but they need to be baked through. Please note there is likely to be some butter spillage – keep a tray to catch the spill during baking.
- To make the icing, mix the icing sugar with 1–2 tablespoons of hot water, adding more if needed. You are looking for the consistency of runny honey. Fill the piping/pastry bag and pipe a loose spiral of white icing/frosting around the edges of each cooled pastry (too soon and the icing will melt).
Tip:
- You can make one batch of pastry dough and make two kinds of pastries – simply half this recipe to 6-7 Custard crowns and use the rest of the dough for your other choice. Please note you must NOT roll up the dough and re-roll out, this will ruin the layers.
Notes
Want the book? Get your hands on a signed copy of Bronte Aurell's Fika & Hygge right here.
Photo by Pete Cassidy - recipe here is a part extract from the book. Best get the best selling book for 90 delicious baking recipes from all over Scandinavia.