This recipe is another of my firm favourites. It takes no particular skill and not a whole lot of time to make. In fact it’s almost embarrassing to admit just how easy it is to make this. Most people who eat them give me these amazed, admiring looks that I’m loath to extinguish. These danishes are so good that I’ve had dinner guests moan that they’re much too full for dessert, and then magically fit some 5 pieces in. Be warned that if you happen to be hungry when these come out of the oven, you are likely to devour half the batch. Easily.

Anyway-enough talking them up. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.

Open up a large can of apricot halves. You can use any fresh or can fruit that you like – I’ve tried it with banana and strawberry. But canned apricots are the best – so far. Back to the apricots – drain them well. You’ll need 32 pieces of apricots, so you might need to slice the halves into quarters. Sometimes if the apricots are small, there will be 32 halves in a large can (I kid you not!)

Make the almond frangipane filling by mixing all the ingredients together in a bowl. It will look insufficient to fill 18 danishes, but it will do the job nicely.

Cut each sheet of pastry into 9 squares. Do them real straight, as per pic…. Then place a teaspoon of filling in the middle of each pastry ‘square’.

Peel off a square at a time, place it on your palm and then and place 2 pieces of apricot diagonally on the square of pastry, then bring two ends together and squeeze to seal. Place danish on a baking tray. Repeat with the rest. Brush eggwash over the top of the danishes, then bake until pastry is puffed and golden. You might get 1 or 3 danishes where the filling has overflowed or the pastry has broken the seal. Just eat those. They’ll taste as good. You can make these nice and pretty if, once cooled, you brush them with melted and strained apricot conserve. I’ve never done this because I like eating them warm. If I let them cool before eating, I might not get any at all.

Mini Apricot Danish

Ingredients:

2 ready rolled puff pastry sheets

1 large can apricot halves

30g softenend butter

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 egg, separated

1/4 cup ground almonds (or hazelnuts)

Method:

(Preheat oven to 220C, or 210C for fanforced)

1. Defrost pastry sheets, and cut into 3 strips and then cut each strip into 3, giving you 9 squares per sheet

2. Cut apricot halves into quarters – you will need 32 pieces

3. In a small bowl, mix together the butter and sugar

4. Add egg yolk and almonds and combine thoroughly

5. Place filling on each pastry square, followed by the apricots, at a diagonal.

6. Bring remaining sides together, press to seal.

7. Bake on oven trays until golden brown (around 15-20 mins), remove from oven

Glaze

Heat 1/2 cup apricots jam and 1 tbs water, strain. Brush over pastries and allow to cool.