Danish Pastries: Dinosaur Paws (Wheat Free with Dairy Free Option)

Having learnt how to make fairly decent puff pastry, I think it may be my new favourite thing. There are so many things I want to try out using it; it's a shame it takes so long to make! However, for now, I will show you all my most recent adventure in the land of laminated pastry: cinnamon Danish pastries!

In a lot of bakeries here in Ireland, there are a few varieties of puff pastry snacks available: maple pecan plaits, apple turnovers, croissants, and cinnamon spirals. The cinnamon ones are my favourite, and for those who have never seen one before, it looks like a slice of Swiss roll (roll cake) made with puff pastry and cinnamon sugar, and I love pulling off the pastry following the spiral around to the middle... because I'm strange like that.

This time, though, I decided to do a different shape, using the same combination of things. From researching, I've found no name for this kind of folding technique other than "Turkey Feather", which a few North American bloggers have used, and I've also seen it referred to as a "Tulip Fold"; I, however, think it looks like a dinosaur footprint.

To make these pastries, I used the same puff pastry dough I used to make the croissants, doubling the ingredient amounts to make a bigger batch of pastry. It also needs an extra 5 to 10 minutes freezing time between folds. You will also need about 4 teaspoons of light brown sugar or caster sugar mixed with a half to full teaspoon of ground cinnamon, depending on how strong you want the cinnamon flavour.

Without the aid of a video, I have drawn a little diagram of how I folded it and then took a photograph:

1. Roll the puff pastry into a rectangle roughly 14 inches (35½ centimetres) wide; trim the edges if you want it to be nice and neat, but it's not necessary. Wet the surface with a little water and sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar to make a nice covering.
2. Working with the long sides, fold each long side into the middle, using a technique called a book fold.
3. Wet the new plain surfaces of puff pastry and sprinkle on some more cinnamon sugar.
4. Fold in half, short end to short end.
5. Fold in half again, long side to long side.
6. Pop in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes (or the freezer for about 10-15 minutes) before cutting into 8 equal portions.

Arrange these on a baking tray which has been lightly floured, about 2 to 3 inches (5 to 7½ centimetres) apart from each other and the side of the tray, and bake in an oven preheated to 220ºC (450ºF, Gas Mk.8) for 10 to 15 minutes, or until fully expanded and have a nice golden brown colour around the edges. Use a fish slice to move the pastries from the tray to a wire cooling rack and eat cool, and preferably on the day they are baked.

These are super cute, and quite tasty! I thought they were just fine the way they were but you can also, for a more Scandinavian style cinnamon pastry, use some ground cardamom in addition to your cinnamon. 

Stay tuned for more adventures in the land of laminated pastry!

THIS TIME IN 2014: Mini Chocolate "Melkterts" (Wheat Free)
THIS TIME IN 2013: Homemade Box of Chocolates = WIN