Raspberry Danish Recipe
I’ve been using this raspberry danish recipe for years! The dough is super easy to make (don’t let the lengthly recipe foul you!) and tastes just like something you’d find in a bakery. These danishes are very soft, they can be filled with a jam or cream cheese in the center or left unfilled. I always drizzle mine with some icing, it helps to keep the danish and filling together. There are several options for fillings, my favorites happen to be raspberry and cream cheese but it’s not limited to only those. Other variations such as strawberry, peach, and blueberry are popular as well.
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This is a great danish recipe for brunches or hosting a gathering and is compliments of Bread with a Side of Butter. I’ve made these for Christmas mornings, meetings, and birthday brunches. They are pretty to look at but even better to eat!
Helpful items to have for this recipe:
Ingredients
- Dough ingredients:
- 1 tablespoon yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter {1 stick}
Raspberry Filling Ingredients:
- 12 oz frozen unsweetened raspberries (or any other fruit) thawed
- 1/3 cup sugar, or more to taste
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 2 heaping TBSP cornstarch, dissolved in just enough water to make it pourable
Instructions
- Put the yeast and sugar in a small bowl, add the warm water and let sit 10 minutes.
- Measure the flour, second amount of sugar and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender. The mixture should be well blended, afterward you shouldn’t be able to see any clumps of butter.
- Warm the milk in the microwave for about 45 seconds.
- Add the slightly beaten egg to the milk. Add the yeast, milk, egg into the dry ingredients. Stir well until it all blended together. The end result is a cross between a batter and a knead-able dough. Resist the urge to add more flour! The dough will increase in size a bit, so make sure your bowl is larger than the mound of dough.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
The Next Day/ After 4 Hours
- Sprinkle flour on your counter. Roll the dough to 1/2 inch thick with a rolling pin. The dough is sticky, but it most easy to work with when it’s cold, so don’t remove the bowl of dough from the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Use a pizza cutter to slice 3/4 inch strips, twist them, starting at one end, then roll it up into a circle. I was a little nervous about this process, but it was actually really easy and went really fast! Put the twists on a greased baking sheet.
- Let rise about 1 hour or until doubled in size. {I turned my oven on to preheat for about 2 minutes, then turned it off. I let my rolls rise in the warm oven- right now my kitchen is just too cold; the dough would take 4 days to rise sufficiently!}
- After the dough rises - For filled danishes, you’ll want to add 1 tsp of of jam or cream cheese to the center of the rolls. You can use store bought jam, or make your own like I do. Homemade is simple to use, just follow the recipe below.
- Bake at 350 for about 10 – 15 minutes.
Jam Instructions:
- Thaw frozen raspberries in the refrigerator or in the microwave.
- Puree the raspberries in a food processor or blender. Strain them through a fine-mesh strainer to remove all the seeds. Place raspberry liquid in a medium-sized saucepan.
- Add sugar, lemon juice, and dissolved cornstarch to the raspberries and cook on medium heat, whisking constantly, until mixture bubbles and thickens.
- Remove from heat and cool until warm to the touch. . Filling keeps in the refrigerator at least a week, and I'm sure it'll freeze pretty well too.