My Gluten Free Danish Pastry Recipe is labor intensive. So, I took my gluten free apple cake recipe, which is like a sliceable danish in itself, and turned it into individual portioned easy gluten free Danish pastries. I filled mine with sweetened almond filling, topped with fresh blueberries. See the numerous suggestions including apple and sweetened cream cheese, another fave of mine.
Gluten Free Cheese Danish
Anytime I think about sweetened cream cheese pastries, I think of my first visit to Germany. I was there on business and saw a cheese pastry in the coffee room. I thought, “Who would want cheese in a pastry? It must be a German or European thing!” Well, the other pastries didn’t appeal to me. So, I took one bite of the cheese pastry and feel in love! It was probably filled with mascarpone, but cream cheese works just as well.
Traditional Gluten Free Danish:
If you are looking for that buttery, flaky puff pastry dough to make danish, see my Gluten Free Danish Pastry Recipe. (See below photo.)
A Larger Version of these Individual Pastries:
In between a coffee cake and a Danish pastry, this easy gluten free danish pastry can made with a variety of fillings. Serve to anyone!
Ingredients:
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (or dairy-free sticks (Earth Balance) or margarine (Smart Balance), melted
- 1/2 cup milk of your choice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cups Carla’s Self-Rising Gluten Free Cake Flour Blend Recipe
- Almond Filling
- Pastry Cream*
- 1/2 (21-ounce can) gluten-free pie filling (Wilderness or Comstock - last I checked)
- Combination of Gluten Free Pastry Cream* and pie filling
- Combination of Almond Filling topped with fresh blueberries
- Gluten-free jam
- 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter or dairy-free spread, melted
- 1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tablespoon warm milk of choice
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Oil a three to four 4 to 5-inch round cake pans or shallow ramekins; set aside.
- In the large bowl of your mixer, beat together eggs and sugar on medium-low speed, or whisk by hand.
- If the butter is still warm, add it a little bit at a time to prevent the eggs from scrambling.
- Pour in the milk and vanilla. Mix again on medium-low speed.
- Add the flour blend all at once and beat until smooth.
- Spread the remaining batter in the prepared pan, just enough to cover the bottom. Set the remaining batter aside.
- If using jam, drop 1/2 tablespoons full over the batter and spread out as much as possible. Alternatively, evenly distribute almond filling, pastry cream, pie filling, sweetened cream cheese filling, or a combination of both. Drop spoonfuls of dough on top of the filling. Spread portions of the batter to meet each other, leaving a bit of filling peeking through the top, here and there as seen in the apple coffee cake. Alternatively, cover the entire top as in the above blueberry pastry photo.
- Bake 35 - 40 minutes or until a cake tester/toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (Check early on so that you don't overcook it as ovens vary.) Cover with foil if it becomes too brown.
- While the Danish are baking, make the glaze by adding confectioners’ sugar to a cup. Top with melted butter, and stir until the sugar melts. Add the milk and vanilla; stir thoroughly. Baste over warm danish and serve immediately or at room temperature. Store leftovers covered, at room temperature up to two days or freeze unwrapped. Then wrap and freeze.
Tips
*If you are corn-free, use this recipe for Pastry Cream using potato starch instead of cornstarch and tapioca flour in the all-purpose flour blend recipe.