Apple Danish

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American, Southern

Keyword apple-danish, easy-apple-danish-recipe

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 15

Cooling Time 30

Total Time 1 5

Servings servings

Calories 267kcal

Ingredients

Apple Filling:
2 large Granny Smith apples peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup water
1 Tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon OR apple pie spice
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg (omit if using apple pie spice)
3 Tbsp salted or unsalted butter
Puff Pastry:
1 17.3 oz package of frozen puff pastry thawed per package instructions
1 large egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2-3 Tbsp heavy cream or whole milk

Instructions

Apple Filling: In a medium saucepan, combine the apples, sugar, 1/3 cup of water, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring periodically. Cook for 5 minutes, the mixture will thicken. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Set aside to cool the apples for 10 minutes or so to thicken. (This can be done in advance and chilled in the fridge for a timesaver.)
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large sheet pan or two standard sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
Thaw the puff pastry per the package instructions. On a lightly floured surface, unfold puff pastry sheets, rolling with a lightly floured rolling pin just until smooth and roughly 12x14-inch rectangle.
Use a pizza wheel, sharp knife or a pastry cutter to cut each sheet into 12 equal strips 3/4-1 inch in width. Take each strip and lightly twist them
Pinch the ends of 2 strips together to create one long strip then twist. Wind the twisted strip into a spiral and place circles onto the pan. Repeat with the remaining strips, pressing two strips together, then twist and form into a circle.
Use your fingertips or the bottom of a glass to lightly push down the middle of each pastry, creating a little well.
Assemble: Spoon the cooked apples into the center of each pastry. Whisk the egg with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the egg mixture onto all of the exposed puff pastry.
Bake for 15-17 minutes. The pastry should be golden brown and the apples in the middle with be bubbling.
Cool on the pan for 5 minutes then use a spatula to move the danishes to a wire rack to cool completely.
Glaze: In a small bowl whisk together powdered sugar and heavy cream. Drizzle over each pastry and enjoy!

Notes

Puff Pastry - You can find puff pastry in the freezer section of your local grocery store. It is usually kept where you find whipped topping or frozen fruit and pie crusts.
Follow Package Directions for Thawing - When using frozen puff pastry, you should follow the package directions for thawing it properly. If your puff pastry is refrigerated, keep it chilled until ready to use, or per the package recommendation. Frozen puff pastry usually takes between 20 and 30 minutes to thaw and refrigerated puff pastry can be used straight from the fridge.
Apples - If you can’t find Granny Smith apples, substitute another firm apple like Honeycrisp, Gala, JonaGold or Bramley.
Make the Apple Mixture in Advance - For a timesaver, you can make the apple danish filling in advance and chill it until assembling the danish.
Spices - There's plenty of room to customize these easy apple danishes. You can use other spices for the filling of these easy danish recipe such as ground ginger and cardamom in addition to the cinnamon ands nutmeg. You could also add chopped nuts like almonds, pecans or walnuts to the apple pie filling and drizzle the top with a cream cheese glaze. You could also use fresh peaches to turn these into a homemade peach danish.
Apple Pie Filling - If there's no time to make your pie filling from scratch, you can use a quality canned apple pie filling. You'll need to chop the apple slices in the can.

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