Searching for a lemon danish recipe

[lutefisk]

Hi Folks,

Much Googling is getting me nowhere. I've found lemon danish dandies -- some kind of god forsaken cookie -- and recipes that are essentially:

Step 1: Open a package of lemon danish

Step 2: Eat them

...okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously, I'm looking for a lemon danish recipe that does not involve Pillsbury crescent rolls in a can.

Any help?

Thanks!

[alanamoana]

do you know how to make danish dough from scratch already?

if so, make some danish dough, make some lemon curd or lemon flavored pastry cream or some lemon flavored cream cheese filling and use that on your danish dough before or even after you bake.

a standard search should get you a reasonable danish dough recipe.

[ludja]

I've heard a lot of people swear by a recipe in Dorie Greenspan's "Baking with Julia". The guest baker for danishes was Beatrice Ojakangas.

Here is a recipe for her danish dough that she provides on-line: click Another option may be to look at "Baking with Julia"; there may be more photos or instructions.

[Swisskaese]

You could fill the already baked danish with lemon curd or you could make a lemon cheese filling and fill pre-baked danish and then bake them.

[KatieM]

You're right, googling DOES come up with nothing! I think it may be that lemon is not a traditional filling/flavoring for Danish pastries. Almond, cheese, cherry, prune, almond, almond, and almond are the most common. Most fruit flavors traditionally have a layer of almond cream beneath the fruit, though it's not necessary.

I've never come across a recipe for lemon danish, and I do have several Danish cookbooks. However, that is not to say that one does not exist! Your question made me think "Why have I never made a lemon danish?"

I definitely second using the recipe from Baking With Julia. It's essentially the same as the recipe from Beatrice's book, The Great Scandinavian Baking Book. It's the only recipe I use. It's very straightforward, and produces excellent results.

As far as a lemon filling, I would use Pierre Herme's Lemon Cream. It is well suited for this. You could also layer a cream cheese mixture and the lemon cream, or mix the two together. All of the above sound good to me!

I think it might work best in a braid - gooshy fillings tend to stay contained that way.

Good luck!

[Lindacakes]

Can anyone here speak about Beatrice Ojakangas as a cookbook author? Some of the books on her site are really interesting -- holidays, pot pies, honey.

Wow, that first comment by her public in her blog is a blinding beacon of ignorance.

[ludja]

Can anyone here speak about Beatrice Ojakangas as a cookbook author?  Some of the books on her site are really interesting -- holidays, pot pies, honey.

Wow, that first comment by her public in her blog is a blinding beacon of ignorance.

←

Good question; I'm interested in people's comments on her other books as well.

And yeah, it was pretty hilarious to see that post that assumed she was an "anonymous" blogger or poster and was lying about working with Julia Child. Nevermind that she is a published cookbook author of several books!

[ludja]

Poster's ideas for lemon filling sound pretty good. Regarding their absence in traditional Danish cookbooks that might be explained if lemons were not a traditionally affordable ingredientt imported into Denmark. I think citrus was still relatively expensive and not that common in parts of Northern Europe until well after WWII.

I hope people report back if they find a filling that works well. For a first shot I'd probably try lemon curd or Herme's Lemon Cream varient mixed or layerd with cream cheese.

Edited February 7, 2007 by ludja (log)

[takomabaker]

Nancy Silverton has a great recipe for Lemon Turnovers in her Pastries from La Brea Bakery book. She uses a sour cream pastry, but it is closer to quick puff or Beatrice Ojakangas' danish pastry in that the butter is incorporated in the detrempe rather than folded in, but the dough is still turned.

She also has a recipe in the same book for "sunshine buns" that uses danish pastry in which she uses meyer lemons or tangerines in the filling.

I have made the Lemon Turnovers successfully, but have not made the sunshine buns.

I saw Beatrice Ojakangas on a Baking with Julia rerun for the first time last weekend (I don't watch much television), and I have the cookbook. Her method for danish pastry was interesting. I haven't made a lot of danish, but the way I was taught in class was the traditional detrempe and beurrage method which is also the way Nancy Silverton makes it in "La Brea". Considering the fact that I am not all that crazy about danish, I would rather spend the time folding and turning croissant dough if I am going to make laminated dough. But I do think I will try her method. Maybe it will resurrect my interest in danish.

And yes, that first commenter on her website is a complete and utter moron.

Edited February 7, 2007 by takomabaker (log)