for the first time since being in school, I have a week off for the holidays. for me, extra time always puts baking projects on the mind. I finally tackled laminated dough, something that really stumped me in the past, with these juleboller, or christmas danishes.
while the world slides back into shutdown as omicron scuppers yet another year of new years celebrations, it felt like a small victory to pull these decadent, almond paste-filled pastries from the oven after hours of carefully rolling and folding, then chilling, then rerolling and refolding two more times.
these pastries also feel a big nostalgic, as my last trip out of the states was in 2017, when I visited northern europe, including a few days in copenhagen. the past two years have held much treasured time with family at home and in different locations around the states, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t miss international travel just a little.
makes 10 juleboller
250mL (1 cup + 1 1/2 tsp) whole milk, cold
13g (1/2 oz) active dry yeast
20g (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp salt
600g (4 1/2 cups) bread flour
500g (4 1/2 sticks) butter, cut lengthwise into 1cm (1/2-in) slices
white icing
120g (1 cup) confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 tbsp water
filling
50g (1 3/4 oz) almond paste
50g (3 1/2 tbsp) unsalted butter
50g (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
magnus nilsson. the nordic cookbook. new york: phaidon press limited: 2015.
2 roll dough out on lightly floured work counter into an ~11×20-in rectangle, with 11-in side facing you. place cold sliced butter on half closest to you and fold butterless half of dough over the butter. crimp edges together using spare 1 1/4-in border.
3 11-in seam should face you; roll dough evenly to thickness of ~3/4 inch, maintaining width of rectangle at ~11 inches.
4 imagine rectangle as divided into three smaller rectangles; fold part closest to you away so it covers the middle section, then fold the farthest rectangle so that it also covers the middle section, making three layers of dough. turn dough 90º so that short side faces you.
5 roll dough out evenly to ~3/4 inch; final dimensions should be ~11×20-in. repeat folding in thirds, turning, and rolling process two more times. if butter starts to leak through, place dough in refrigerator to chill again before rolling.
6 once pastry has been rolled out for third time, cover with kitchen towel and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to rest before proceeding.
icing|1 mix confectioners’ sugar and water in a small bowl; use immediately.
filling|1 in a small bowl, mix almond paste, butter, and sugar into a smooth paste.
assembly|1 preheat oven to 435ºF. line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2 roll dough into rectangle ~1/2 in in thickness and cut into 4 1/2-in squares.
3 place tablespoonful of paste onto each square, fold corners in towards middle and squeeze together to seal. invert and transfer to baking sheets so that seam faces downwards and leave for 20 minutes to rise.
4 bake for ~12 minutes, or until golden, transfer to wire racks and allow to cool a bit. decorate with white icing.
fort juniper 