Sunday, June 29, 2008

Multicultural Danish Braid

In case you haven't noticed the Danish Braids taking over the Internet, today is post day for the latest Daring Baker's Challenge, Danish Braid. This month's challenge is hosted by Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What's Cooking. The definitely challenging part of this challenge was learning how to make a laminated dough. This is the same type of dough as croissants are made of. I saw Jacques Pepin make this dough on PBS years ago and have been afraid of it ever since. In fact, I procrastinated so bad on making it that I just finished at 12:45 this morning.

I should not have been so afraid. The dough was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be. I followed the directions (posted on the host blogs) carefully and ended up with a nice flaky and delicious dough. But why do I call it multicultural? Because my filling was inspired by the Orange Chocolate Baklava in the book Essence of Chocolate: Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger. The orange flavoring really comes out. I used Lindt 70% chocolate only because I didn't have time, or the forethought, to drive to the next county to get some yummy Scharffenberger chocolate.

And oh yeah I'll be making this again.
Make sure to check out the rest of the Daring Bakers and their yummy braids!

Orange Chocolate Filling

1 cup unblanched whole almonds, lightly toasted
1 cup walnuts lightly toasted
6 oz. 70% bittersweet chocolate
4 oz. chopped dates
zest of 1 orange

Place nuts in food processor and pulse to chop very small. Add orange zest, chocolate, and dates and process until crumbly in texture.

This makes enough filling for 2 Danish Braids.

23 comments:

Cakelaw said...

Your orange chocolate filling sounds sensational - great choice!

Peabody said...

Orange and chocolate sounds like a winner to me. Great job on the challenge.

Anonymous said...

i agree with the others - chocolate and orange is a wonderful idea for tee filling - well doen!

Anonymous said...

Wonderful filling choice and lovely braid.

glamah16 said...

Oh yumm combo. Beautiful braid work and evertything.Sometimes what we fear the most isnt so bad after all.

Speedbump Kitchen said...

Orange chocolate! What a great idea!

Rebecca said...

Orange...chocolate?! Madam, I bow before your filling choices!

Anonymous said...

That orange chocolate filling looks to die for! Fantastic looking danish!

Anonymous said...

your filling is so creative, great choice. everything turned out great!

Anonymous said...

Awesome braid -- that filling is to die for!

Half Baked said...

Orange chocolate!! I want some. Your braid looks great! Nice job:)

Deborah said...

Another procrastinator! So glad I wasn't the only one. Your filling sounds AMAZING!

Tempered Woman said...

the filling sounds AMAZING~ in a word...
I can't believe you outed my Charles Shaw, heh. Keen eye grasshopper. Braid looks perfect~ congrats!

Cynthia said...

You are so talented and look at those perfect braids!

Anonymous said...

Orange chocolate - yum! That sounds deluxe - kind of like a huge pain au chocolat. What a great idea.

Y said...

Chocolate orange baklava sounds most good, and in turn, makes for a very inspired danish filling :)

Susan @ SGCC said...

Your danish braid looks wonderful! You can never go wrong with chocolate, can you! I really liked the chocolate/orange combo too. Great job!

Katie B. said...

If I may say kick-ass - your filling sounds so kick-ass! YUM!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

Orange and chocolate remind me of Christmas...my favourite holiday. Great job Mary with this months challenge:D

Katy said...

yours looks awesome -- this was such a good challenge! i'll definitely be making it again too.

eatme_delicious said...

Looks great! And the filling sounds delicious.

Helene said...

Looks sensational! I don't usually like my chocolate with fruits in it but you might just have convinced me! Great job!

Dolores said...

Beautiful braid. Your orange chocolate combination sounds delightfully international. Great job!