Peach Pastries Danish Recipe

May 8, 2020
Richard Makin
Dessert

6 pastries
0.0

If you’ve ever tried to make a Danish pastry recipe from scratch, you’ll know that they take a really long time! Traditional Danish pastry is yeasted and laminated, like croissant pastry, which is super fiddly to make. Instead, this danish recipe uses pre-packaged puff pastry (which more often than not is completely plant-based). The result is a super quick, super impressive morning treat which is crispy, flaky and rich with custard.

Ingredients

For the Custard Filling

250ml plant milk (oat is best)
1/2 t vanilla bean paste
50g icing sugar
30g corn starch
pinch turmeric powder
20g vegan butter

For the Peach Halves

3 peaches (or six canned peach halves)

For the Pastries

375g pack pre-rolled puff pastry (make sure it’s plant-based)
4 T plant milk
1 t vegetable oil
½ t agave syrup (or maple syrup)

For Finishing

80g icing sugar
3 t plant milk
5 T unsalted pistachios, roughly chopped

Instructions

To Make the Custard

In a small saucepan, combine 200ml of the plant milk, vanilla bean paste, and icing sugar. Whisk well to combine and place over a low heat.
Place the remaining 50ml of plant milk in a small bowl and add the cornstarch and turmeric powder. Whisk well until smooth and no lumps remain.
Gradually whisk the cornstarch mixture into the warmed plant milk. Keep whisking constantly over low heat until the mixture thickens dramatically. Once thickened, leave the mixture to bubble a couple of times before removing from the heat and vigorously whisking in the vegan butter.
Pour the custard into a baking tray (this will allow it to cool more quickly) and cover with cling film, making sure the film is making contact with the surface of the custard.
Once cooled to room temperature, refrigerate the custard for a minimum of 20 minutes.

To Peel the Peaches

If using fresh peaches rather than canned, fill a large bowl with ice cold water.
Place a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, remove the pan from the heat and carefully drop the peaches into the water. Leave them there for maximum three mins or until the skins start to split.
Use a slotted spoon to remove the peaches from the hot water and put them straight into the cold water to stop them from cooking.
The skin should slip off easily, but if not, you may need to use a vegetable peeler to start the process.
Once peeled, halve the peaches and remove the stones. Set aside.

To Make the Pastries

Preheat the oven to 200c fan.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and carefully unroll onto a baking tray lined with parchment (if the end of the pastry is a little still and doesn’t want to unroll, leave it to warm up for 2 minutes).
Remove the custard from the fridge and transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until smooth again. If you don’t have a stand mixer, beat with a whisk until smooth.
Divide the dough into 6 squares using a pizza cutter (for me each square was 12.5cm).
In a cup, mix together the plant milk, oil, and syrup. This will be your “egg wash”.
Using a pastry brush, apply a small amount of egg wash to the centre of each square.
Fold the corners of the square into the centre and push them down gently to stick.
Add a heaped tablespoon of custard to the centre of each pastry square. Follow with a peach half and push down gently to make sure the custard squeezes out further than the peach half.
Brush the pastry with the egg wash and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

To Finish

Whisk together the icing sugar and plant milk until smooth and thick enough to drizzle off the whisk.
Drizzle the icing over the pastries.
Sprinkle the pistachios over the pastries before serving.

Notes

This danish recipe has a couple of tricks. Find some pro tips on how to fold the danish as well how to peel a peach!

How to Fold a Danish

There are loads of different ways to fold a danish pastry. Some are wrapped, some are simple circles, but we’re using a diamond technique because it’s very pretty! Here’s how!

Slice the puff pastry. We need squares for this recipe, so measure with a ruler if you can! Most puff pastry rolls are similar in size and our squares ended up 12.5cm in size.
Wet the centre of your pastry square with the egg wash. Fold the corners of the pastry into the centre but leaving a small gap between each fold, so you end up with a cross shape in the middle. Push the centre down lightly with your fingertip.
Top with custard. You don’t want to use too much custard or it will bubble and spill out over the edges of the Danish. Just a heaped tablespoon will do it. Place it in the centre of the Danish and spread out a little with the back of a teaspoon.
Top with a peach half. Right in the centre, place the peach half flat side down, dome side up. Brush the edges of the pastry with the remaining egg wash and bake!

How to Peel a Peach

This is a little tricky, so you can always just use canned peach halves. If you’d rather use fresh, try this method to get the skin off.

Plunge the peaches into a saucepan or bowl full of boiling water (make sure it’s not still over the heat – just boiled). Leave them in there until the skin splits but for no longer than 3 minutes.
Remove the peaches from the boiled water with a slotted spoon and plunge them into a bowl of ice water.
Peel the skins off with your hands (they should slip off very easily – almost like peeling a tomato).
Use a paring knife to halve the peaches and remove the stones from the inside. Set them aside to use in your Danish pastries!