Granini's Danish Pastries

Granini's Danish Pastries

Recipe

These pastries actually require four different recipes.  One for the dough, one for the cream cheese innards, one for the lemon filling, and one for the (optional) cream cheese coconut glaze.

I will post all four recipes here, but I think the lemon filling deserves its own set of instructions and pictures -- not because it's that difficult, but rather because the lemon goodness can be used for multiple tasty treats.

Ingredients for the dough:

(Thank you to Dessert for Two for her fantastic recipe!)

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

10 Tablespoons of salted butter

1/3 cup ice cold water

PLUS: 1 egg white in a separate dish for brushing onto your pastries when you're done filling them and shaping them and right before you pop them in the oven.

Ingredients for the cream cheese innard goodness:

1/2 cube of cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

Ingredients for the (optional) cream cheese glazy drizzle

1/2 cube cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla,

1/4 cup coconut milk

Ingredients for the lemon filling

(Thank you to Christopher Kimball's Dessert Bible)

10 Tablespoons sugar (1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons)

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

7/8 cup (1 cup minus 2 Tablespoons) cold water

2 large egg yolks

1/3 cup lemon juice

2 Tablespoons grated lemon zest

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Instructions for the pasty dough:

The pastry dough is a bit like making a very buttery pie crust that becomes more and more malleable with each and every rolling of the dough.  And once it rests, it's quite easy to shape.

• Sift your flour and salt together onto a good working surface.
• Cut your cold butter into fine cubes
• Make a well in your sifted ingredients.
• Plunk your dainty butter cubes into the well, and use a fork or a pastry knife to mix them together thoroughly.  You want your flour to look a bit like course oatmeal by the time you're finished.
• Make another well in your flour.
• Add in the ice cold water.
• Gently, very gently, use a fork to cover the flour.  Then gently mix everything together until you have a nice dough ball.  Don't worry if there is a lot of flour left over.  You'll end up mixing that in eventually through the next steps.
• Lightly flour your rolling pin.
• Roll the dough out into a long rectangle.
• Fold the bottom third up, and the top third down.  Then rotate the dough 90° and repeat FIVE times.  Roll, fold, fold, rotate.  Repeat.
• Then wrap your dough in plastic wrap and let it sit for at least an hour.  You can even refrigerate overnight and then roll it out into your shapes in the morning!
• Once you've let your dough sit and relax and chill out, you're ready for some fun!
• There are many different shapes for making pastries.  AND, there are many different sizes.  I've only tried a couple.  But I prefer smaller danishes rather than big ones.
• A few easy shapes are these:  Roll the dough into a rectangle, and then cut into small squares.  Fill your dough with your cream cheese and then your lemon (or whatever berry filling you like).  Then fold over the two corners to make a flattened version of a cannoli. 
• OR, you can roll the dough into rectangles, cut into small squares, then cut your dough at diagonals, fill the centers, and then fold over each one of the corners to make a pretty pinwheel.
• OR, you can cut the dough into strips, twist and roll the dough into a round spiral, make a divot in the center, and fill.
• I'll practice more with these lovely danishes, and put up more pictures as I learn!  
• AFTER you are done shaping and filling your danishes, lightly brush them with egg white.  Then bake at 430° for 18 minutes or so, or until the tops are golden brown.  Don't under bake them, or they will be doughy.
• Once the danishes have baked and cooled completely, feel free to drizzle on the optional cream cheese coconut glaze.
• Enjoy!

For those of you who like pictures, here you go!

Cut your butter into thin slices

Flip it around 90° and cut it into thin cubes

Pile on the butter onto the flour.

Use a pastry knife to mix the butter into the flour.

Add in your ice cold water.  Ice cold water, rather than room temperature, helps your dough become quite flaky and delicious.

It's almost into a ball.

A ball!  Don't worry if there's a lot of flour left over.  It will all incorporate after you roll it out several times.

Roll it out into a long rectangle.

Fold the bottom third up and the top third down.

Roll it out again.  Turn.

Then repeat five times.

Roll, fold, fold, rotate 90°.  Repeat.

Once you're done with your rolling and folding, put your dough in plastic wrap and let it sit for an hour or overnight.

When you're ready to work with your dough, roll it out onto parchment paper.

Make it fairly thin (about 1/8 inch thick).

Shape into a rectangle.

Cut into squares.

You can be sloppy if you want, but the nicer your rectangles, the more pretty your pastries will turn out.  Mine are pretty sloppy.  But hey, it was my first time.  I need some practice!!

I made two different shapes, because I wanted to know which would taste better and which would look better.  Then I filled them.

Put the lemon on the top.

Folded everything over.

Here's a close up.  Make sure that your dough pieces are touching in the center so that they bake together and don't 'open up' while they rise in the oven.

Let them rise for about 1/2 an hour or so.  Then brush with egg white and pop them in the oven for 18 minutes or so, or until lightly golden brown.

Some of mine popped open.  Sigh.  I'm still learning.  Next time I'll REALLY make sure that the edges are closed together.

Even though it popped open, it still looks charming

And delicious.

They're so cute!!

Oh yeah, SUPER yummo.

Finished!  Darling, delicious, and delightful!!

Yummmmmmmmm.

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I wrote a book!  You can buy it here:

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Granini's Homemade Pasta

Granini's Homemade Pasta

Recipe

3 eggs

2 cups of flour (divided into two sections - 1 1/2 cups and 1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. On a clean surface, pour 1 1/2 cups of flour into a mound.  Make a hole in the middle.
2. Break your eggs into the hole.  Add olive oil and salt.
3. Using a fork, gently and slowly whisk your eggs, slowly adding in a wee bit of flour, just a little bit at a time.  
4. As more flour is added to your eggs, you will need to start using your fingers and hands to mold your dough into a lump.  Add in the final 1/2 cup of flour, a little at a time, as needed to form a nice dough ball.
5. Knead your dough.  The dough will be stiff and tough in the beginning.  If your dough is too sticky, add just a wee bit more flour.  If it is too dry, sprinkle / spritz your dough with a teeeeeeny tiny bit of water.  
6. Knead your dough.
7. Keep kneading your dough.
8. Knead it some more.
9. Knead the dough for a good 8 to 10 minutes.  It will seem like forever.  But, like with your baguette dough, it will be worth it in the end.
10. Wrap your dough in saran wrap and leave it alone for at LEAST 1/2 an hour.  I like to leave it for a couple hours or so.  Room temperature is fine.  I usually use this time to go and make my bread dough for rolls to go with dinner.  Mmmmm.  Carbs.  Carbs are tasty.
11. Split your dough into four sections.  Roll each section out into a small rectangle about 1/4 of an inch thick.
12. Run your dough through your pasta machine.  I roll mine out until I get to the number 4.  Then I cut it in half, and roll until I get to the number 7.  I don't like overly long pasta.
13. Lay each section out onto parchment paper while rolling the rest of your dough out.
14. Run the dough through the cutting part of the pasta machine, cutting to the desired thickness.  If you don't want to run the dough through the cutting part of the pasta machine, you can lightly flour your pasta, flip it over into thirds (so that it piles on top of itself), then run a pizza cutter through it, and it cuts it quickly and efficiently!
15. Hang your pasta out to dry on a drying rack.
16. Boil the pasta in lightly salted water for 3 minutes.  Seems like no time at all, but that's all it takes!
17. Drain your pasta (but do NOT rinse it!).
18. Bathe your pasta in your favorite sauce.
19. Serve while hot, fresh, and yummers!!

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For those of you who like pictures, here you go!

Make a well in your flour.  Add in eggs, salt and olive oil.

Use a fork and pile the flour on top of the eggs, and mix that puppy all together.

It's amazing how fast it all turns into a ball!  But if for some reason your dough is too dry and you have way too much flour left over, simply get your hands lightly damp, and keep kneading the dough.  No need to add water to the dough itself.  You just need a spritzer worth -- I just wet my hands, and it works great!  Then knead it for a good five minutes.  Once you're done kneading, wrap it in saran and put it on the counter.

THEN LEAVE IT ALONE.

Put it in time out.

Don't touch it.

Seriously.

LEAVE IT ALONE.

I like to abandon my pasta dough for an hour.  But if you're in a mad rush, 15 minutes will suffice.  But seriously, if you can wait an hour, that's best.

Unwrap, and then separate into four pieces.  I know, I know, you're thinking, "but the pieces are so small!  How on EARTH will this be enough?"

It is surprising how much pasta this wee little bit of dough will make.

When I make the dough and cut it into fettuccini strips, it's enough to feed 7 or 8 fairly hungry people.  When I make it into lasagna sized strips, it's enough to make one VERY large lasagna with double or triple layers of pasta.  I like a lot of pasta in my lasagna.  For a normal person, you could probably get away with two full large lasagnas.  But like I said, I like my lasagna to have lotso pasto.

Okay, back to your dough ball.  Once you have a quarter of the dough, you can sort of shape it into a squarish type cube.  Then lightly flour a piece of parchment paper or waxed paper, and roll it out, longwise, into a rectangle about 1/4 of an inch thick.

That's about right.  Maybe a bit too thick. But it's just about right.

Repeat the rolling out of the dough until all four of your pasta bundles are rectangles.  The one in the back right is horrible, shaped like a triangle, and that ended up making funky shaped pasta.  Don't do that.  Make them like the bottom right one.  It's just peachy.

THEN, you get to do the fun part!  Roll out the dough with your pasta machine!

Start at zero.  Run the dough through.  Switch to 1 and roll it through.  Repeat until you get to level 7.

This is a picture of the dough after it's been run through level 4.

I lay my pasta out onto waxed paper or parchment paper when it's all rolled out and ready to be cut.

Then you repeat the process, using your pasta cutting machine to cut your pasta.

OR, you can cut your pasta yourself.

See pictures below.

I lightly floured my dough, folded it over itself, and cut it with the pizza cutter instead of the cutting part of the pasta machine.  Worked out pretty well!

After cutting it with the pizza cutter.

Then all you need to do is unfold the pasta and hang it up on your pasta drying rack!

oooh! So pretty!  All my pasta, hanging in a row.

Pretty, pretty pasta, about to be my dinner.  Yummmmmm!

It tastes ever so yummy with my homemade tomato sauce.  I made mine from all my garden tomatoes.  Here's a recipe if you're interested.  GranNini's Tomato Sauce.

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I wrote a book!  You can buy it here:

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College Lists -- what to bring

We are fast approaching that time of year when one must start mucking out the kiddos' rooms, getting ready to send them off to college.

These days, each college has its own unique list of things that they will supply your incoming college freshman.  They also have their own list of things that they recommend that your college student brings along with them.  

Many of these items can be bought online, and delivered to your student's college.  Online shopping and often *free* delivery charges can greatly help with packing, particularly when you're sending your college student across the country.

Some colleges and universities also have a *do NOT bring these items* list.  Make sure that you check out your college's restrictions before arrival.

From what I remember, a million bajillion years ago when I first went off to college, dorm rooms are SMALL.  Take only those MUST NEED items with you.  You can always buy more once you arrive.  OR, online shop after dropping off your kids, and have the items shipped directly to them.

If, however, you have found your child a mansion, er, I mean, a spacious dorm room to live in, which can hold each and every thing they could possibly need or want, I have made up a fairly comprehensive list.

I think I've covered just about everything other than a bed, mattress, desk, desk lamp, and garbage can.  But I was assuming (and you know what it means to assume!) that the colleges and universities traditionally provide those items.

So here you go!

I made this into a PDF file to easily fit on one page for printing, but for the life of me I can't seem to get the PDF file to upload.  So here are two larger versions of the list to make it easier for you to see.

Did I leave anything out?  I'm sure I have...  Alas.  Amazon, here I come!

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I wrote a book!  You can buy it here:

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