vegan sour cherry almond danishes

Welcome to the pastry of your dreams! I've repurposed the vegan vanilla custard from the english trifle recipe and married it with a ridiculous sour cherry compote to make these vegan sour cherry almond danishes.

Holy hell... are they ever good! After making a couple of savory danish recipes for you (see the everything danishes and the apple cheese danishes), I couldn't leave you hanging with a sweet craving. So now you get the salted caramel dark chocolate danish and these guys to fill your tummies.

The magic of pre made puff pastry is that you can spend less time crafting perfect layers of pastry and more time imagining all the ways and shapes you can mold your pastry. I opted for braided nests for these babies! They're the perfect little design for an Easter feast, if I do say so myself. So braid away and check out the video below to see how these sour cherry almond danishes are made.

sour cherry almond danishes

Braid your puff pastry into a cute nest to hold the sweet & sour pairing of creamy vanilla custard and tart sour cherry jam... no regrets!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Denmark

Keyword: custard, danish, puff pastry, sour cherry

Prep Time: 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

Total Time: 1 hour hour 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 8 danishes

Author: Lauren Toyota

Ingredients

vegan vanilla custard

• ▢ ½ C soft or medium-firm tofu (strained of excess water)
• ▢ 3 tbsp + 1 tsp granulated sugar
• ▢ ¼ C + 2 tbsp full-fat coconut milk
• ▢ 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon cornstarch
• ▢ 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ ⅛ teaspoon sea salt

sour cherry jam

• ▢ 1 ½ C frozen sour cherries (divided)
• ▢ ¼ C granulated sugar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• ▢ 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• ▢ 2 teaspoon cornstarch
• ▢ 2 teaspoon water

danish pastry

• ▢ 1 pkg (500 g) vegan frozen puff pastry, thawed overnight in the fridge
• ▢ 2 tablespoon vegan butter
• ▢ 3 tablespoon almond slices
• ▢ 1 to 2 tsp confectioners sugar, as garnish (optional)

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• To make the danishes, lightly flour a surface and cut the dough in half, working with a half portion at a time. Keep the remaining half in the fridge while you work with the first portion. Roll out each half into a 8 x 10-inch rectangle. On the 8-inch side, mark out every 2-inches where you will cut. Use a knife or dough cutter and a ruler as a guide, to help you cut out 4 even strips. 
• Now imagine each strip of dough is divided into thirds. Slice the dough into thirds, but leave a ½-inch at the top uncut. Braid the strips, while twisting them, and then pinch closed when you get to the end. Now using both hands, pick up the braid and wrap the braid like so it looks like a nest. Tuck the end underneath the nest, secured between one of the layers so it doesn’t unfold during baking. Repeat steps until all the dough is used up.
• Place danishes on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with vegan butter. Sprinkle almond slices on each. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before adding the custard and sour cherry jam.
• To make the vegan vanilla custard, strain the excess water from the tofu. I find it best to use a nut milk bag or you could use a bamboo cloth. Add the tofu to a blender, with the remaining custard ingredients and combine until very smooth.
• Pour the mixture into a saucepan and heat it over medium while whisking constantly as it starts to thicken and bubble. It will take about 6 minutes to get it to the right thickness and looking sort of gelatinous.
• Remove the saucepan from the heat and into an ice bath. This is just a larger bowl with cold water and ice cubes. Place the bottom of the sauce pan into the cold ice water and whisk the custard constantly as it cools in the saucepan. This will prevent it from clumping.
• To make the sour cherry jam, heat another small saucepan over medium heat with 1 cup of sour cherries, granulated sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice. Once the mixture starts to boil, turn heat down to medium low and simmer for about 8 to 10 minutes. 
• Combine cornstarch with water into a slurry and whisk it into the sour cherry mixture and let the sauce thicken up, about another 1 to 2 minutes. Gently stir in the remaining ½ cup of sour cherries and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes. Once done, the mixture should be glossy and thick.
• Once the danishes are cool, dollop vegan custard into the center and top with sour cherry jam. Finish with a dusting of confectioners sugar just before serving.