Spandauer (Danish Pastry with Custard or Jam)
These flaky and buttery pastries are one of the most beloved pastries in Denmark. Made with laminated yeasted dough, they are certainly a commitment to make, but the result makes it all worth it!
Ingredients
PASTRY DOUGH
- 1 portion wienerbrødsdej (danish pastry dough) *or you can use the easier recipe below! You only need one portion, so choose one to use!!
- OR 1 portion "easier" wienerbrødsdej (danish pastry dough)
REMONCE (MARZIPAN FILLING)
- 100 grams marzipan *our recipe makes 250 grams, so you can adjust accordingly!
- 50 grams softened, unsalted butter
- 50 grams granulated sugar
TOPPING
- 1 portion kagecreme and/or *if you're making half of the spandauer pastry cream and half of them jam, you will only need a half portion! You can adjust accordingly, or just eat the pastry cream as dessert :)
- 1 portion raspberry jam *use storebought jam if you like! any flavor is fine!
- 1 egg for egg wash
ICING (OPTIONAL)
- Powdered sugar *we don't measure this and just fill a bowl with powdered sugar to create our icing!
- A little bit of water
Instructions
- The night before baking, begin preparing the pastry dough by following the steps in our wienerbrødsdej recipe. Or, you can make the dough the same day, and use our easier version!
- You can also make your marzipan, kagecreme, and raspberry jam a day ahead of time to make sure they are chilled. You can do this the day of as well!
- The next day or after the dough is done rising, follow the lamination instructions in the danish pastry dough recipe.
- While your dough is resting between folds, mix the ingredients for your marzipan filling (softened butter, sugar, marzipan - leave at room temp to soften!). Mix together really well, until you have a smooth paste.
- Once you have completed all the laminations according to the wienerbrødsdej recipe and the dough has rested, start rolling out your dough on a well floured surface, being gentle. If you get any tears in the dough, add some flour to the spot! When it's around 16" in length, cut it in half and wrap one half in plastic wrap and put it back in the fridge. It's much easier to work with half of the dough at a time.
- Roll the remaining half of your dough into a flat rectangle that is about 1/8-1/4 inch thick.
- Trim the edges of your rectangle; it should measure 12" in length and 8" in width.
- Cut the dough into six equal sized squares. You can use the trimmed dough from the edges and make them into little swirls or croissant shapes and bake them with the pastries if you want!
- Add a small blob of marzipan filling to each of your squares. Keep in mind that you will use half of the marzipan filling for this half of the dough, so reserve the second half for the other part of the dough!
- Then fold each corner towards the center, using the marzipan to lock it in place. If you need to add water to the top of the dough to make the corners stick, you can do that!
- You should be left with a square looking pastry! Transfer the pastries to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. We do use two baking sheets for this recipe.
- Cover the first batch of pastries, either with plastic wrap or a damp dish towel, and let them start proofing.
- Repeat the rolling out of the dough and the shaping steps with the other half of the dough. Transfer to a baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.
- Now leave your shaped pastries to rise for at least 2 hours, perhaps longer. They should be very puffy and jiggly!
- Look at the difference between the previous picture and the picture below! This is a very important step, because under-proofing these means major butter leakage (we are speaking from experience!). You'll know the pastries are ready when they feel super light and airy (almost wobbly when you touch them) and have doubled in size. Another test is to poke the dough, and if it leaves an impression and doesn't spring back immediately, it should be ready.
- Towards the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 C).
- Once your pastries have risen, egg wash the first baking sheet that you prepared.
- Press down the center of the pastries to make room for about a tablespoon's worth of filling.
- Add about a tablespoon of kagecreme or raspberry jam to the center of each pastry
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes on the center rack, until golden brown! We bake these one at a time, since we prepare the dough one half at a time anyway. So while the first baking sheet is in the oven, prepare the second baking sheet by repeating the egg wash, pressing down the center, and adding the topping.
- When the first batch comes out of the oven, put in the second baking sheet for another 15-20 minutes, and bake until golden brown. Place the pastries on a cooling rack and let cool completely.
- Mix together icing sugar and water until you have a thick icing. Ice around the edges of the pastry. Enjoy!
