My Recipe Box - Gluten Free Cheese Danish

January 2023 - Toronto ON

I have always loved cheese danish! This gluten free recipe satisfies that urge, although the pastry is not as flaky as a danish. They keep well, we had them for breakfast three mornings in a row. I had frozen the rest.

Recipe says to make 10, I got 12 and I would even make them smaller and flatter so that you could put more filling on them. We found them to be a little to thick. These photos are from my first attempt, I will update as we refine our version.

 Note: to measure flour do not dip the measuring cup into the flour, using a scoop fill the measuring cup and level with a knife

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups (304g) gluten-free all-purpose flour blend used Robin Hood

1/4 (108g) cup arrowroot starch

1/3 cup (67g) coconut sugar or sweetener of choice used sugar

2 tsp. GF Rapid rise yeast

1 tsp. GF baking powder

2 large eggs at room temperature, whisked

1/2 cup (110g) warm milk (120 F)

10 Tbsp. (142g) salted butter, divided 4 tbsp (57g) melted and 6 tbsp (85g) cubed and frozen

1 tsp. Fresh lemon juice

FILLING

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 large egg, separated

1 Tbsp. Coconut sugar or sweetener of choice

1/4 cup jam (apricot, plum, cherry, strawberry, curd or raspberry)

ICING (optional)

1 1/2 Tbsp. Fresh lemon juice (or as needed to reach desired consistency)

1 cup powdered sugar 

In a large bowl whisk flour, arrowroot starch, sugar, yeast and baking powder

Melt 4 tablespoons (57g) of butter and place the remaining butter in the freezer after cutting into small pieces.

Add eggs, milk, melted butter and lemon juice to dry ingredients and mix. The dough should be fairly wet. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour allowing the dough to rise.

Make the filling - cream together cheese, egg yolk and sugar. The extreme yellow is due to the very yellow egg yolks I had!

Once the dough has risen, fold the 6 tbsp (85g)frozen cubes of butter into the dough

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking tray with parchment paper

Using a large cookie scoop, scoop out 10 mounds of dough and place on the baking tray 2 inches apart. Dip your fingers in some oil and create a well in each mound of dough.

 Add one spoon of cheese filling mixture to each well and top with one spoon of jam. 

Whisk the remaining egg white and brush over the exposed dough. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes until golden.

A reminder of the size cutter I used!

For the icing, whisk the lemon juice with the powdered sugar and drizzle over the pastries.

Flavour Variations:

There are various fillings options when making a Danish. 

Add chocolate or Nutella
Add nuts
Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar mixture
Add any flavor of jam or fruit filling you like
Apple pie filling
Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes
You can make a large shaped cheese danish in the form of a rectangle

Or bake as a loaf

No eggs
Laminate version

My Recipe Box

I haven't even made these yet and they are going into my recipe box as I will be making them in the near future! They looked so easy to make and there is also a video on the link.

This recipe for eclairs and profiteroles was featured on the Toronto Marilyn Denis show.

The bakers are from Bobette and Belle, a delightful bakery on Queen St. E in Toronto. Check out their blog!



Recipe and image source

Classic Éclair and Profiteroles

Whip up a successful dessert with this classic éclair recipe from Bobbette & Belle.

Choux Paste Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup 2% milk
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

Directions:

1. Bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt up to a full simmer over medium high heat.
2. Reduce the heat to low and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon, stirring vigorously until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the saucepan. Scrape this mixture into a large bowl and use electric beaters or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for a minute or 2 to cool it a little.
3. Break two eggs into a small dish and whisk them just to blend a little. Add these to the flour mixture while still on medium speed and mix until blended. Add the remaining 3 eggs one at a time and mixing well after each addition.
4. Work with this recipe while the batter is still warm.
5. Bake in oven at 400F for 10 minutes, then turn down oven to 375 for further 15 minutes or until rich golden colour.

Pastry Cream Ingredients:

• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 egg yolks
• 6 tbsp sugar (put 3 tbsp with milk and 3 tbsp with egg yolks)
• 4 tbsp corn starch
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp vanilla

Method:

1. In a sauce pot over medium heat bring the milk and half the sugar to a simmer. In a separate bowl whisk together the other half of the sugar with the egg yolks and then whisk in the cornstarch.  Temper the egg mixture with the hot milk mixture and then add the tempered eggs back in to the pot and cook over low heat, stirring constantly until it boils, thickens and starch is cooked out.  This will take approx. 5 mins.
2. Remove the pastry cream from heat and add in the vanilla and butter.
3. Place custard in a container and lay plastic wrap right over top of it to prevent a skin from forming.
4. Cool completely in the fridge for approx. 2 hours.
5. Once the custard has cooled completely, remove from fridge. Poke holes into eclairs or profiteroles and pipe in custard using piping bag.
6. Per half cup of finished pastry cream you can add 2tbsp of mango/passionfruit puree, or 2tbsp of raspberry puree, or 2 tbsp cooked banana puree or 1/4 toasted coconut
7. For added flavour, dip filled éclair into melted chocolate and let cool.

Friday Finds - Recipes

Chicken laksa spiced noodle squash broth I saw Jamie Oliver make this and will have to try it.

Recipe and image source

cooking steaks and a marinade - from Sobey's magazine

Recipe and image source

Grilled turkey meatballs on a bun also from Sobey's Inspired magazine

Recipe and image source

Chocolate marble cake

Recipe and image link

In an effort to cut out buying prepared packages I am going to make pastry from scratch. It is silly and a waste of time when it appears so easy.

Shortcrust pastry

Recipe and image source


I also plan on making my own Bisquick mix.

Bisquick mix