Delicious and really quick raspberry danish pastries, with a creamy custard filling. Perfect for breakfast or brunch, all ready in just 20 minutes!

Danish Deliciousness

Who doesn’t love a good raspberry Danish pastry?!

Crispy, sweet and full of gloriously juicy raspberries, I think these danish pastries make the perfect addition to breakfast, brunch or just as a cheeky everyday snack!

Okay, so Danish pastries aren’t exactly the healthiest of choices, but what is life if you can’t treat yourself and your loved ones now and then to something so tasty?

Danish pastries have rather curious origins; it is thought that Danish bakers went on strike in the 1850s which meant a load of Austrian bakers were brought in from abroad to make up the shortfall in the workforce. These new bakers created the Austrian pastry dish of ‘plundergeback’, which the Danes dually adopted and adapted to create the unique and delicious Danish pastry that we know and love today.

Now, making Danish pastries in the traditional manner at home takes a really long time! Of course, the rewards are great but so many of us simply don’t have a day that we can devote to making our own pastries from scratch.

This is why I fully advocate a much quicker version of the traditional Danish pastry recipe so you can still have homemade pastries in a fraction of the time it would normally take. So, my really quick raspberry danish pastry recipe really ticks all these boxes as a great recipe for busy people!

Perfect Puff Pastry

I’m no stranger to pre-made puff pastry sheets. They really make the perfect quick cook ingredient and can be used in a huge variety of both sweet and savoury recipes. I’m always on the lookout for time-saving ingredients and ready-made puff pastry ticks so many boxes for me.

Just check out some of my other perfect puff pastry recipes including these 15 Minute Mushroom & Mascarpone Puff Pastry Squares, these 15 Minute Goat’s Cheese, Red Onion & Walnut Puff Pastry Squares, these 15 Minute Smoked Salmon & Asparagus Puff Pastry Squares and for something a little sweeter, these Quick Puff Pastry Cinnamon & Raisin Twists. Yum!

Ravishing Raspberries

For these really quick Danish pastries I’ve chosen to use raspberries as the topping fruit. This is for a number of reasons. Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I really really love raspberries! These juicy and tangy little berries for me, are a glorious reminder of the summertime at it’s peak.

Raspberries also look so beautiful sitting atop of the custard-filled flaky pastry base. Just like little ruby red jewels in a golden crown. Presentation is always important in the food world!

Another great advantage of using raspberries in these super quick Danish pastries is the fact that they keep their shape nicely during baking. Having attempted to make pastries with other fruits like blueberries and strawberries, the higher water content of these other berries seems to cause them to leech out juice all over the pastries during the cooking process.

It isn’t the end of the world if this happens of course, and the pastry is still absolutely delicious. However, for presentation purposes I think it’s a lot nicer having the fruit stay intact. Raspberries don’t bleed everywhere which makes them the perfect choice.

One further important thing about raspberries is that using too many can overpower the flavour of the final Danish pastry.

When creating this really quick Raspberry danish pastry recipe, I went a little bit overboard and put LOADS of raspberries on top each of each one. As fantastic as it is in theory, this isn’t a great move! The tartness of the berries totally overpowered the mild and sweet custard underneath. So for the sake of a balanced flavour, I recommend using 3 raspberries max (maybe 4 if they’re very small) per danish. This seems to be the sweet spot!

Joyful Jam

After removing your freshly baked really quick raspberry danish pastries from the oven, it’s time to brush them generously with some melted apricot jam. This is for two reasons; firstly, to add a bit of extra sweetness. Most standard pre-made puff pastry sheets are not especially sweet and therefore it up to you to inject some extra sweetness into the final pastry. A liberal coating of melted jam does just that perfectly.

The apricot jam also adds a gorgeous glistening shine to the top of the raspberry danishes that makes them extra lovely to look at.

Now, lets have a look at a handy step by step guide to making these really quick raspberry danish pastries, with helpful photos as a guide…

Really Quick Raspberry Danish Pastries – Step By Step Method

Makes 6

STEP BY STEP

Step 1

Start by pre-heating your oven to 220°C / 200 C fan (430 F / 400 F fan)

Step 2

Get one 350g (approx 12 oz) ready-made puff pastry sheet. Note though, that is the approximate weight…the actual weight depends on which brand of puff pastry you happen to have. It may be a little heavier or a little lighter, which is totally fine! Now unroll this sheet onto a clean work surface that’s been dusted with a small amount of flour, to stop it sticking.

With a sharp knife, cut this sheet into 6 evenly sized squares.

Step 3

It’s time to make your creamy (and quick!) vanilla custard. Grab a medium bowl. In it, put one large egg, 5 tablespoons of double (heavy) cream, 3 tablespoons of caster (superfine) sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract. (Use extract or essence and not flavouring. Vanilla flavouring just isn’t as nice!).

Whisk this all together until smooth and combined. This only takes around 10 seconds with a handheld whisk, so if using an electric one, don’t whisk for any longer than that or you may end up with whipped cream!

Step 4

Now it’s time to make your little puff pastry ‘cups’. Starting with one of the 6 puff pastry squares, pinch all 4 corners together one at a time to create a little cup shape. Fold the pinched pastry corners against the sides of each cup and squeeze it all firmly together.

The sides of each cup should be around 2cm (3/4 inch) tall. It is important that the sides of each cup are pointing upwards (or even a bit inwards) and not flopping outwards, or they won’t hold the custard.

Transfer each completed pastry cup onto a greased baking sheet, ready for the oven shortly.

Step 5

Next, spoon 2 tablespoons of the custard mix into each pastry cup. Place 3 raspberries on top of the custard layer of each pastry to finish it all off. (You can use 4 raspberries if you have especially small ones).

Place the filled pastry cups into the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes until rising and golden. Note they may be rather ‘puffed up’ immediately after you remove them from the oven. Don’t worry, as they will soon settle down shortly after being taken out.

There is also a chance that some of the custard may have leaked out a little onto the baking tray during the cooking process. If that’s the case, don’t panic! Simply cut around the overflowed part and transfer the pastry to a wire cooling rack. There will still be plenty of custard left within the danishes even if a little has spilled out, so it really doesn’t matter.

Transfer all the pastries to a cooling rack.

Step 6

Nearly there! Pop 3 generous tablespoons of apricot jam into a small bowl. Put this in the microwave and heat for 10-15 seconds. Give this a good stir. With a pastry brush, brush the warm jam generously all over the top of each of the pastries. Take care not to damage the raspberries – just lightly brush when you are close to the fruit.

That’s it! All ready to dig in. Serve warm or cold. Enjoy!