Danish Peach Pastries

If you’ve ever tried to make a Danish pastry recipe from scratch, you’ll know that they take a really long time! Traditional Danish pastry is yeasted and laminated, like croissant pastry, which is super fiddly to make. Instead, this vegan Danish recipe uses pre-packaged puff pastry (which more often than not is completely plant-based). The result is a super quick, super impressive morning treat which is crispy, flaky and rich with custard.

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cooking Time: 35 minutes
Serves: 6

Method

To Make the Custard

1. In a small saucepan, combine 200ml of the plant milk, vanilla bean paste, and icing sugar. Whisk well to combine and place over a low heat.
2. Place the remaining 50ml of plant milk in a small bowl and add the cornstarch and turmeric powder. Whisk well until smooth and no lumps remain.
3. Gradually whisk the cornstarch mixture into the warmed plant milk. Keep whisking constantly over low heat until the mixture thickens dramatically. Once thickened, leave the mixture to bubble a couple of times before removing from the heat and vigorously whisking in the vegan butter.
4. Pour the custard into a baking tray (this will allow it to cool more quickly) and cover with cling film, making sure the film is making contact with the surface of the custard.
5. Once cooled to room temperature, refrigerate the custard for a minimum of 20 minutes.

To Peel the Peaches

1. If using fresh peaches rather than canned, fill a large bowl with ice cold water.
2. Place a medium saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Once boiling, remove the pan from the heat and carefully drop the peaches into the water. Leave them there for maximum three mins or until the skins start to split.
3. Use a slotted spoon to remove the peaches from the hot water and put them straight into the cold water to stop them from cooking.
4. The skin should slip off easily, but if not, you may need to use a vegetable peeler to start the process.
5. Once peeled, halve the peaches and remove the stones. Set aside.

To Make the Pastries

1. Preheat the oven to 200c fan.
2. Remove the pastry from the fridge and carefully unroll onto a baking tray lined with parchment (if the end of the pastry is a little still and doesn’t want to unroll, leave it to warm up for 2 minutes).
3. Remove the custard from the fridge and transfer it to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on high speed until smooth again. If you don’t have a stand mixer, beat with a whisk until smooth.
4. Divide the dough into 6 squares using a pizza cutter (for me each square was 12.5cm).
5. In a cup, mix together the plant milk, oil, and syrup. This will be your “egg wash”.
6. Using a pastry brush, apply a small amount of egg wash to the centre of each square.
7. Fold the corners of the square into the centre and push them down gently to stick.
8. Add a heaped tablespoon of custard to the centre of each pastry square. Follow with a peach half and push down gently to make sure the custard squeezes out further than the peach half.
9. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and place in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.

To Finish

1. Whisk together the icing sugar and plant milk until smooth and thick enough to drizzle off the whisk.
2. Drizzle the icing over the pastries.
3. Sprinkle the pistachios over the pastries before serving.