Braided Danish Coffee Cake

Braided Danish tastes as good as it looks. This recipe was very similar to the bear claws--utilizing the same almond flavor profile, just baked in a different shape. I started by rolling out a large rectangle of Danish dough and splitting in half to create the base for two braids. Next, I smeared a row of almond filling down the middle of each rectangle and cut diagonal slits, one inch apart, down each side of the dough rectangles. Then for the fun part--I layered a strip from the right over a strip from the left and proceeded until I had two braided Danishes. After tucking the ends under, I left one of the braids to proof for an hour and wrapped the other one to freeze for surprise breakfast in the future. A simple egg wash and sprinkling of almonds completed the proofed Danish before baking in a 400-degree oven for 22 minutes. The finished braided Danish had a deep golden color with a perfectly splintered crust and heavenly almond smell. To finish everything off I used a fork to drizzle a generous amount of vanilla-scented icing over the pastry. Like the bear claws, this was delicious! I think I'll surprise my sister with the frozen braid—that should make for one happy brother-in-law!

Next up: Quick puff pastry