Danish pastry recipe

This classic Danish pastry recipe is so simple. This is a really quick way to make Danish pastries with a packet of ready-made puff pastry. You can vary the filling – try a different flavoured jam, a spoonful of thick custard or a chunk of fresh or canned fruit. They are best eaten warm on the day of making but they can be prepared up to the end of step 3 then chilled in the fridge until you are ready to bake them. This recipe makes 8 Danish pastries and will take 15 mins to prepare and 15 mins to bake. It's a delicious treat for breakfast at the weekends and once you've mastered this recipe you'll want to make them over and over again.

Ingredients

• 500g puff pastry, thawed if frozen
• 8tbsp raspberry jam
• 1 egg, beaten
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

1. Preheat the oven.
2. Roll the pastry out on lightly floured surface to a large rectangle about 40 X 20 cm. Trim the edges with a sharp knife and cut into 8 x 10 cm squares.
3. Sprinkle two baking sheets with a little cold water. Place the pastry squares on the baking sheets.
4. Place a spoonful of jam in the centre of each square. Dab the four corners of each square with a little beaten egg then fold each corner in so the point just meets the jam.
5. Glaze the pastry lightly with beaten egg and bake for 15 mins until risen, golden and crisp. Serve warm or cold lightly dusted with icing sugar.