Cinnamon Danish Pastry Swirls

. August, 2016
Photography by Aimee Twigger.
Cinnamon Danish Pastry Swirls

These swirls from Aimee's Perfect Bakes make for an amazing morning tea or weekend treat. They take a little patience but the delicious results make it completely worthwhile. 

INGREDIENTS

Dough
250 grams strong white flour
40 grams caster sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons fast-action dried yeast
1 egg
45 ml tepid water
1/4 cup milk
250 grams unsalted butter
Filling

175 grams unsalted butter
60 grams soft light brown sugar
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons icing sugar
1 egg, beaten
Lemon drizzle
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
75 grams icing sugar
Equipment
Stand mixer
Clean plastic bag

The process for these amazing swirls isn't difficult; it just requires a lot of folding and resting time – I would suggest making the dough the evening before you need it. The lemon drizzle icing makes these delicious pastries taste even better.

METHOD

Dough

Put the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, making sure the salt and yeast don’t come into contact. Start mixing, while you add the egg, water and milk. Knead the dough for about 6 minutes. Lightly dust a worktop with flour and tip the dough out. Roll the dough into a ball and place it in a clean, dry plastic bag in the fridge while you prepare the butter.

Place the butter between 2 sheets of baking paper. Hit it with a rolling pin to flatten it into a rectangle.

Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out on the floured surface into a large rectangle. Place the flattened butter in the middle and fold the dough over it. Turn it, then roll the dough out to a large rectangle again. Fold in half again, then follow these folding and rolling steps twice more. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and return to the fridge for 1 hour.

Once rested, roll out the dough and fold, turn and roll twice more. Return the dough to the fridge for 30 minutes. Remove from the fridge, roll out the dough and fold again, twice, then leave the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Filling

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a gentle heat just until it’s thick but not too runny. Add the sugar, cinnamon and icing sugar and mix it all together.

Roll out the dough on a floured surface into a large rectangle and spread over the filling. Roll each side of the rectangle in to meet in the middle, then cut into 5cm-thick slices. Place the cut slices on a lined baking tray with space in between and leave to prove for 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Brush some beaten egg on top of each pastry and bake for 15–20 minutes.

Lemon drizzle

Mix the lemon juice, lemon zest and icing sugar in a bowl to form a nice runny icing, then drizzle it over the baked pastries.

These are best eaten the same day, but will keep in an airtight container for 2 days.