Lemon Danish for a Danish Dad
Happy Father’s Day!
I was swamped and never did a Mother’s Day post but this year I made a quiche for my carb-abstaining Mother. I actually really need to post that recipe for a multitude of reasons but let’s leave that to another day because today is all about the Dads!
I’m lucky enough to have two Fathers in my life. Hopefully as a more socially tolerant world evolves more young ladies will get to say that in the future. My Dads aren’t partners, one is my “Bio-Dad” and one is my “Step-Dad” married to the Meat-eating Mom. Still, whether straight or gay, having two Dads is kind of awesome. I’m lucky to have two who genuinely do care and love me. Each in their own way though I will say that explaining the situation surrounding “Bio-Dad” aka “Korea Dad” can be a bit complicated. It isn’t the easiest relationship to explain since he lives thousands upon thousands miles and 16 hours ahead of me. I don’t really get to celebrate Father’s Day with him.
My “Step-Dad” or “Danish Dad” as he’d probably like to call himself, I see nearly every day. This is largely driven by the fact that I live at home. I have to admit that if I saw a little less of my parents I wouldn’t complain. Only because I do prefer my independence and having lived alone for several years, miss some of the benefits that go along with that. An upside though is that “Danish Dad” is always happy to eat anything I bake which makes it a lot easier for me to NOT eat them.
He has also been there for me in the middle of the night to put aloe on a second degree sunburn, let me cry when I broke up with a boyfriend the night before a chem final, taught me to drive, brought me the joy of sushi and even smiled when a boyfriend gave me the exact same Christmas gift my Dad had purchased for me but didn’t get to give me first. In short he’s been kind of awesome.
That’s why I want to dedicate my first ever try at making homemade Danish to Father’s Day! See my Step-Dad is from Denmark. Betcha didn’t guess that from the “Danish Dad” reference. Um Olivia, yes we did. Yes you’re very smart. Shut up. (What’s that from? Win a prize!) Danish Dad moved to Chicago from Denmark as a very young child but he’s still very proud of his homeland and will loudly proclaim the prowess of both Vikings and The Chicago Cubs given any opportunity.
Of course then I remind him I’m a Yankees fan descended from the Celts. He loves me anyway and as far as he’s concerned I’m just as Danish as he is. Why? “Because you’re my daughter and we don’t care about that blood nonsense.” Proof in the pudding that he’s a good Dad right there. Proof that biological goo is not the only basis for parenthood. Proof that there are a number of great Dads out there, biological or not, who should be celebrated today.
This was my first time making a complicated pastry dough from scratch. Danish pastry is a slightly more forgiving dough than puff pastry and croissants; Julia Child is also far from a stickler to needless tradition meaning you get to use a food processor to speed this up. A food processor is actually going to produce superior product because you can work faster and therefore keep your butter colder–just like with making pie dough. I think the dough came out really well, it was so yeasty and fluffy!
I rolled out the dough to make a “Danish Slice” which essentially danish pastry dough filled with cheese/fruit jam/curd and baked in a long strip that you cut into slices. They puffed out more than I anticipated so I’m glad I went simple the first time rather than trying a fancy braid or pinwheels. For filling I went two ways: 1) Lemon cheese topped with lemon vanilla confiture and 2) Blueberry preserves. The lemon cheese was far above in flavor and that’s no surprise. I used lemon quark I bought at the farmer’s market. You can replicate it with a blend of a creamy soft cream cheese and lemon curd. Lemon confiture are lemon peels preserved in a sugar syrup that I infused with a vanilla bean. Mmmmm jellied lemon peel…. Anyway here’s the recipe for the pastry dough itself. This post is already going to be pretty long so I’ll hold off on the Danish Slice process for another time. Gee, that means I’ll have to make this again? Dad’s gonna hate that :-)
Danish Pastry Dough Read more
