Custard Danishes can filled with vanilla custard, or lemon custard, and then shaped using croissant dough.
Croissant dough is folded with layers of butter in between dough to create a flakey, buttery texture for custard Danishes.
Learn how to shape your Danishes into 6 classic shapes for Danishes.
- Make your Danish pastry dough. You can use puff pastry dough or croissant dough for your Danishes.
- Roll the dough out until it’s about 1/5″ thickness. You don’t want to squish the layers of the laminated dough. These layers are important for your pastry in order for it to turn out. Go slow, and be patient when rolling out your Danish pastry dough.
- Cut the dough into sections. You can make pastries about 5″ wide.
- Cut your pastries and shape your dough.
- Fill the pastry will custard. You can use any type of custard you like. We recommend our Danish Pastry Filling. It’s a vanilla bean custard that goes perfectly with custard Danishes.
- Proof the Danishes at room temperature for 2 hours. The Danishes will start to expand.
- Bake the Danishes for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F.
- Serve the Danishes right away, or you can let them cool to room temperature. Feel free to add a small touch of icing overtop of the pastry by creating lines with your icing.
- Store the Danishes in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. Danishes are best eaten fresh, the same day they are baked.
Danish Pastry Filling
Materials
- 1 vanilla bean
- 6 egg yolks
- 2/3 cup sugar granulated
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 tbsp butter unsalted
- 2 cups milk
Instructions
- Place milk in a medium saucepan on low-medium heat.
- Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise with a sharp knife. Remove the vanilla beans and place them in the milk. Place the whole vanilla bean in the milk.
- Let the milk just come to a simmer, not boiling. Turn off the heat source and remove the milk from the heat. Let the vanilla bean infuse flavor for 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, separate your eggs. Place the egg yolks in a large heat proof bowl.
- Add sugar and cornstarch and mix together with a whisk.
- Remove the vanilla bean from the saucepan. Slowly temper the eggs by adding a couple of tablespoons of the milk to the eggs at a time and vigorously whisking it until fully emulsified.
- Continue adding the milk very slowly until fully combined. You do not want to cook the eggs.
- Strain the mixture back into the saucepan and heat on medium heat.
- Whisk the mixture frequently. Heat the mixture until the cornstarch has activated. It should be a few minutes. You will feel the mixture becoming thickened with your whisk.
- Cook for 1 more minute after it has started to thicken.
- Remove the custard from the heat and add butter. Whisk butter into the custard until it's fully melted. If you want to add any more vanilla flavor, you can add 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract.
- Let the custard cool to room temperature. Then place plastic cling wrap on top of the custard to prevent a film from forming.
- Chill the custard for 2 hours before using.
Danish Pastry Dough
Materials
- 500 g all-purpose flour
- 140 g water
- 140 g milk
- 55 g sugar granulated
- 40 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 11 g yeast instant
- 12 g salt
Butter Layer
- 280 g unsalted butter
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
Day 1
- In a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the dough ingredients. Once the dough comes together, knead for another 3 minutes. Remove the dough from the stand mixer, shape into a sphere, and cover it in plastic wrap. Place in the Danish dough the fridge overnight.
Day 2
- Cut the butter layer into cubes. Arrange the cubes on a silicone pastry mat that will be 15 cm x 15 cm. Fold the pastry mat over the butter and pound with a rolling pin. The butter layer needs to be an exact 17 cm x 17 cm. Place the butter in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out the dough until 26 cm x 26 cm.
- Remove the butter layer from the fridge and arrange the butter at a 45 degree angle from the dough. The dough will be able to be stretched over the butter layer to create an envelope. Seal the dough together by gently pressing the dough together.
- Roll out the dough with the butter fully enclosed to create a long rectangle of 20 cm x 60 cm. Roll the dough lengthwise so it only grows lengthwise.
- Fold the dough to create a letter.
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place on a plate. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Repeat rolling the dough out to 20 cm x 60 cm and folding the dough like a letter. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Repeat rolling the dough out to 20 cm x 60 cm and folding the dough like a letter. Cover and refrigerate for overnight.
- Make your Danish filling and chill it overnight so it's ready for the morning.
Day 3
- Roll the dough out gently, not compressing the folded layers too much. Roll the dough out to 20 cm x 110 cm.
- Shape and Fill the Danishes.
- Let the Danishes sit at room temperature for 2 hours to proof.
- Cover the Danish Pastry dough in egg wash.
- Bake the Danishes for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F.
14 Types of Danish pastries
- Strawberry Danish
- Blueberry Danish
- Blackberry Danish
- Raspberry Danish
- Rhubarb Danish
- Cream cheese Danish
- Ham and Cheese Danish
- Almond Danish
- Vanilla Danish
- Espresso Danish
- Marzipan Danish
- Chocolate Danish
- Cinnamon Danish
- Apple Danish
Danish pastry making
Danish pastry making involves making a yeast dough and laminating butter in between the layers of dough. The dough must rest periodically, and cannot be rushed. The dough is chilled in between creating the layers of butter, as to not make the dough too warm. If the pastry is too warm, the butter will come through the dough. Since this is a delicate process, the time it takes to create Danish pastries can be up to 3 days. The filling must also be made ahead of time and chilled before using.
