Danish "Potato" Pastries
Makes 8 or 9 servings
These pastries contain no potatoes. Cream puffs, shaped like potatoes, they are filled with vanilla-flavored pastry cream, topped with a thin sheet of marzipan, then sprinkled with cocoa. To achieve uniform potato shapes, pipe the pastry in egg shapes, Darcy Person suggests. "But if the shapes are irregular, that's OK, so are real potatoes."
For the Puffs
1 cup water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup unbleached all-purpose white flour
3 eggs
For the Filling
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup unsalted butter
For the Topping
4 ounces almond paste
7/8 cup powdered sugar
1 ½ tablespoons corn syrup
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1. To make the pastry: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with baker's parchment. Put the water, butter and salt in a saucepan over high heat. When the water is boiling and the butter is melted, turn off the heat, whisk in the flour and stir the paste until it is smooth and coming away from the sides of the pan.
2. Move the dough to the bowl of an upright mixer and with the paddle attachment mix the dough at low speed. With the motor running, add the eggs one at a time, and continue mixing until all the eggs are completely incorporated.
3. Scoop the dough into 8 or 9 egg-shaped ovals onto the parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until the puffs have expanded and become golden brown, at least 25 minutes. Note: The puffs will brown before they are really baked through, so continue baking for a few minutes even after they look ready. Cool the puffs completely before filling.
4. To make the filling: Whisk the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a saucepan and stir in the eggs. Whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the custard comes to a boil. Whisk in the vanilla extract and butter, and transfer the custard to a baking dish. Spread it out in a layer no more than one or two inches deep, then chill it in the refrigerator. Pile the custard into a pastry bag and pipe it into the cooled puffs.
5. To make the topping: Mix or knead the almond paste, powdered sugar and corn syrup together to form a fairly stiff dough. Roll the marzipan into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches and cut it into 8 or 9 smaller rectangles. Drape a rectangle of marzipan over each cream-filled pastry. Sprinkle cocoa powder over the marzipan. Keep the pastries chilled until serving time.
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