Pecan Danish Recipe
This pecan danish recipe is inspired both by our pecan butter filling and the supermarkets maple and pecan plaits. You know the ones in the bakery section that are just yum albeit a touch on the sweet side – for us anyway!
Maple Pecan Danish + Nutella Twists
There are sooooooo many ways that you make your plait. Or it doesn’t even really need to be a plait. It can be a twist. It just depends on what you’re comfortable with making. For a simpler twist, check out our Nutella twists that include steps on creating the easiest twist in pastries. You can also make a braid similar to the way it’s presented in bakeries. This requires a few more steps in the pastry preparation though and as a simple pastry recipe, we opted using this as the main pattern. We’ll still provide you with step by steps for it though!
Maple Pecan Plait
- Roll out the pastry into a large rectangle or unroll shop bought pre rolled pastry sheet.
- Cut 4 large rectangles from the large pastry sheet.
- Fill each rectangle with the filling going vertically down in the middle. Leaving a large gap – about an inch or two – on the long lengths of the rectangle.
- Cut the borders into about 1-2cm width strips, cutting until you just reach the filling. There should be equal amounts of strips on each side with them facing directly opposite each other, so that it is symmetrical.
- Starting at the top, fold each pastry flap down in a diagonal direction, alternating each side as you go, ensuring they overlap each other nicely. You may need to trim off the tops and bottoms of the plaited pastry to remove excess pastry and get a neat rectangle plait.
- Repeat this process with the other 3 rectangle pastry sheets.
- Once you have all your pastry filled and plaited, cut the long plaits in half so you have two shorter versions from each rectangle. You should end up with 8 Maple & Pecan Plaits from this.
Pecan danish filling substitutes
Get creative with this recipe. Yes we agree that Maple & Pecans are just a sinful combination together. But there are other nuts and sauce/syrups that can go together. Why not try;
- Almonds & Honey – add a spice of cinnamon or cardamom for a middle eastern twist
- Macadamia Nuts & Basil – create a savoury twist instead? Using our macadamia nut pesto
- Hazelnuts & Chocolate – make your own Nutella by replacing it with Hazelnuts and the maple syrup with cocoa powder or melted chocolate! You may not need as much sugar in this and caster sugar could work better. Play around with it!
Feel free to add the icing glaze included in our Apple Cinnamon Swirl recipe onto the pecan danish too. It would compliment very nicely. Alternatively you could make a maple icing glaze for a little extra maple!
Maple Icing Glaze: Start with two tablespoons of butter and melt. Combine maple syrup and sifted icing sugar and whisk. Keep adding more of each until you reach a thick but runny consistency.
Apologies, we’ve probably bombarded you with all the different creations which may have confused you! We’re just so excited at how easily you can adapt this recipe, whether it’s going from sweet to savoury or even in the way you decide to present it; plaits, swirls, twists.
Vegan Maple Pecan Danish
An added bonus to this recipe is that it’s easily adapted to become vegan. If you’re using shop bought pastry sheets, these are already vegan. Simply switch the butter with coconut oil and you’ve got yourself a vegan maple and pecan plait. If you want to make your own pastry, but still want a vegan danish, use a vegan butter or margarine in your recipe.
| Servings |
danishes
|
- 350 g puff pastry *shop bought or homemade
- 110 g pecans
- 30 ml maple syrup
- 30 ml water
- 70 g light brown sugar
- 25 g butter alternatively coconut oil
Ingredients
|
|
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, fan oven.
- Roll out the pastry into a rectangle. If using a shop bought pastry roll you’ll just need to roll out your pastry sheet. You may want to gently use a rolling pin to smooth any cracks.
- Measure out your butter or coconut oil if making a vegan version. Heat either in the microwave or on the hob until fully melted.
- If you have a food processor** (mini or otherwise), transfer the pecans, sugar, water, maple syrup and melted butter. Blitz to combine into a smooth paste like texture. If you prefer a bit more of a crunchy texture, stop blitzing until a chunky paste forms.
- Spread the mixture in an even layer on top of the rolled out pastry sheet. Smooth all the way until the edges. If you don’t, the ends of your plaits will be just pastry and become a little dry.
- Once you’re happy with your pastry sheet and filling, cut a neat line right down the middle of the landscape rectangle. You’ll now have two pastry sheets.***
- Roll each sheet into a log and then cut each log in the middle so you have 4 mini logs.
- Grab one of the logs and cut a vertical line straight through the middle of the log so we split it open. We’ll then do the same with the halved logs so we end up with quarters. This will start to become very messy!
- Grab two quarters and start to plait, braid or twist them together. It won’t be perfectly neat and depending on whether the filling is face side up will result in different looking plaits. They all still taste great though!
- Repeat steps 8 and 9 until all the logs have turned into your plaits.
- Place neatly in a row on a tray line with baking paper.
- Crack your egg into a small bowl and whisk. Brush the beaten egg on top of the pastry plaits. It doesn’t matter if it gets on top of the filling.
- Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until they’re cooked through and golden brown!
*Whether you make your pastry or where you buy it, depends on how much you’ll have. Approximately, for the danishes you should have between 320-375g pastry. How much pastry you use, results in more or less danishes made.
**If you don’t have a food processor, finely chop or use a mortar and pestle to grind up your nuts. This will result in a more chunky filling that works equally as well!
***At this point you may be inclined to create twists similar to the way we made our Nutella Twists, check out the recipe for steps on creating a twist this way if the one above is a little messy and complicated!
