I’m writing this blog in Porto, Portugal! What a whirlwind of a few days I’ve had. I’m so excited to be here and to explore the food, culture, and people of Portugal for the next month. But for now, as I settle in and catch up on sleep, I wanted to share one of my favorite recipes I’ve ever made. Straight from my kitchen in Maine from a couple weeks ago. A potato pastry with lots of cheese, mashed potatoes, bacon, and chives. My mom told me not to share this recipe with anyone because it’s so good.

Homemade Buttery Puff Pastry

It starts with a base of puff pastry. Rough-puff or homemade. Store-bought is fine. A couple months ago I made homemade puff pastry from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz. Claire is someone I always trust with recipes, and this was no exception. The recipe involves chilling butter in the freezer and grating it into a flour-butter mixture. Barely bringing the dough together with drops of cold water to ensure tender dough. Turning, rolling, and folding as little as possible to ensure crisp layers. It went into the freezer for a few months. I used half right away to make hand pies.

Recently I was thinking of ways to use my puff pastry before heading to Europe. I had an idea for a fish Wellington, inspired by many beef Wellington Christmases. I also thought of a seafood pie with local haddock, lobster, maybe even scallops. But, ultimately I decided to make a potato pastry with cheese and green onions. There’s a bakery in Camden, Maine that I absolutely love called The Place. I haven’t been in a while because it’s about an hour drive from my house, but they are the gold standard for pastries, breads, and all kinds of desserts. Their danishes are amazing. I had a beet and cheese danish as well as more traditional sweet varieties. And they gave me a free chocolate chip cookie.

Loaded Baked Potato Pastry

I wanted to invent my own potato pastry recipe, inspired by the endless possibilities you can put on top of a buttery, flaky crust. I tend to lean more savory when it comes to baking, so I knew I wanted to make something you could eat for any meal. I’ve always loved mashed potatoes, potato skins, French fries. Hash browns. So, I was inspired to add potato, cream, salt, garlic, herbs, and bacon to my cheese danish. My goal was to create a beautiful, silky potato puree packed with flavor. Add thinly sliced pre-cooked potatoes on top that caramelize and crisp in the oven.

So I decided to call these the loaded potato pastry, like a loaded baked potato. Like a crispy, creamy, Thanksgiving side wrapped up in puff pastry. I started with the potato puree so it could cool in the fridge for a day before piping. It needed to be stiff enough to pipe but creamy enough to taste velvety and smooth. I’m a firm believer in roasting potatoes instead of boiling them for mashed potatoes. Potatoes are very porous and boiling can dilute their natural flavor. So, I drizzled my russets with a little olive oil, salt, and poked a few holes in the skin. They roasted for nearly 40 minutes and rested for a half hour before I scooped out the flesh.

Shaping Danishes

While the potatoes were cooling, I heated up cream with garlic and salt. I’ve also been wanting to make duchess potatoes, which are essentially twice baked mashed potatoes. They have egg in the dough to help them crisp in the oven, and you pipe a stiffer mixture decoratively with a piping tip. So, I added egg yolks to my potato mash. Along with the hot cream, lots of salt, and cold butter. I riced my potatoes to get out any lumps, and was left with a smooth, creamy puree. Not thick enough to pipe, but once I let it rest in the fridge for a day it was perfect. I cooked a couple more potatoes whole and let them cool for a day for my thin potato slices.

On day two my potato puree was in a piping bag in the fridge ready to go. My other potatoes were ready to slice. So, I thawed and rolled out my puff pastry into a large 1/4” thick rectangle and cut it into even squares. In order to make my favorite danish shape, you fold the squares over on themselves triangle-way and cut slits from the edge to almost the middle. You don’t cut all the way to the other cut. Then, you unfold the dough into a square again and twist the edges onto the opposite sides to achieve a beautiful frame of dough with knotted corners.

Scallions on Top

After each potato pastry was shaped, I piped swirls of my potato puree evenly over the bare centers. Then, I sliced my pre-cooked whole potatoes on a mandolin like potato chips and layered them generously on top of my potato puree danishes. I decided to egg-wash them after in order to help crisp the potatoes in the oven. Then I sprinkled on salt, fresh grated sharp cheddar cheese, and scallions. I was hoping the potatoes would shrink in the oven to reveal the beautiful layered potato pastry. And I added bacon bits to some to make them more like potato skins, or loaded baked potatoes.

After they cooked, I took the potato and cheese danishes out of the oven and marveled at the golden, enticingly caramelized pastry squares. Like a beautiful potato painting framed in crispy crust. The potatoes did indeed shrink to expose the crisp, golden edges, and the potato puree held its shape because of the egg yolks. The cheese caramelized on top and around the danishes and the scallions added a nice pop of green color. I let them cool for a few minutes and transferred them to a cutting board. Eager to try one, with an empty stomach and a big appetite.

My Favorite Recipe Ever?

I cut one particularly beautiful potato pastry diagonally into two triangles and picked one half up by the tail (the knotted corner of puff pastry). Which made a perfect handle. My eyes widened with the loud crunch of my bite, like marching through fall leaves. The crisp potato pastry is immediately complemented and soothed by the buttery, velvety potato puree, which has a rich buttery flavor. The potatoes on top add a slight chew and crunch. The scallions and cheese add tang, more crunch, and complement the savory potato filling so well. It’s like eating the most luscious potatoes au gratin, spooned onto a puff pastry danish. I immediately knew these were an all time favorite recipe.

I shared some with my parents, who called them “amazing” and “life-changing.” High praise. My mom insisted that I not share the recipe because they were so good. I heated up leftover danishes for breakfast with poached eggs on top, which took them into another galaxy. Then, I logged on to instagram and saw a post by my favorite bakery in Camden. New menu items. One of them was a potatoes au gratin danish. I knew then that I had created something patisserie-worthy, and it felt so gratifying to see my favorite bakers thinking the same way I do about danishes.

A Ridiculously Good Pastry

I can’t tell you how good these are. My description doesn’t do them enough justice. So, I implore you to bake them if you can. After Thanksgiving, take your leftover mashed potatoes and add egg yolks. Then, pick up a store-bought puff pastry box. Pipe the mash over squares of puff pastry danishes and bake them with whatever cheese you prefer. Maybe even potato chips. Scallions or chives if you have them. If you want to go all out, follow along with my recipe for one of the best things you’ll ever eat. What a knockout.

Back to Portugal now, where I’m catching up on sleep after an exhausting travel day filled with delays and infinitely long airport terminals. We’ve settled into a great apartment just outside of the city of Porto. We made grilled cheese with thinly sliced chorizo. Paired with a bag of potato chips. Our hosts left us Portuguese pastries and wine. We finished the day with red wine, life chats, and a good night’s sleep to the sound of intense wind and pounding rain. I woke up early and made an espresso. The plan is to continue exploring the heart of the city and try new foods. Maybe even take some photos.

For now, thank you for reading, as always! If you enjoy my recipes and art, be sure to check out Etsy for 25% off my recipe cards and watercolor art prints of my favorite foods. Use code THEFORKEDRING. Take care!

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Loaded Baked Potato Danishes

A flaky puff pastry danish filled with buttery potato, cheese, and scallions

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American, French

Keyword danish, loaded baked potato, pastry cream

Prep Time 4 hours hours

Cook Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 10

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 2 large sheets puff pastry
• 4 large white potatoes
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 stick butter
• 1/3 cup parmesan
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 egg + 2 tbsp heavy cream
• 3/4 lb fresh grated cheddar
• 1 lb green onions / scallions
• 1 lb Bacon optional

Instructions

• Start by making the potato mousse filling. Boil a large stockpot of water filled 2/3 with water until boiling.
• Boil potatoes under fork tender. Then remove from water and transfer two of them to refrigerator. Scoop out the flesh of the other two into a large mixing bowl.
• Meanwhile, heat your heavy cream and garlic in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until lightly bubbling.
• Pass your potatoes through a potato ricer and add your hot heavy cream. Then, add your salt, butter, parmesan, and egg yolks. Your mixture should be smooth and silky.
• Transfer potato mousse to a large piping bag. Do not snip the tip. Transfer piping bag to the fridge to chill for at least 3 hours or overnight.
• Next, thaw your puff pastry and unroll into two large sheets. If using homemade puff pastry, roll pastry out until 1/4″ thick. Cut into 8-10 equal squares.
• Fold each square over on itself into a triangle. Then, cut two slits in the triangle from the large flat side towards the tip. Make sure not to connect your two cuts, leaving about a half inch between them.
• Unfold your squares and twist your puff pastry edges over onto the opposite edge of the square. You will be left with a picture frame of sorts with a nice knotted edge. Chill pastry for a few minutes to prevent from overworking.
• Once your danishes are ready, transfer them onto a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Snip the end of the piping bag and pipe a generous swirl of your potato mousse onto the center of each danish. Then, remove your extra two pre-cooked potatoes from the fridge and very thinly slice them into chips. They should be as thin as possible, ideally using a mandolin.
• Top your potato mousse with a generous layer of potato slices. Then, in a small bowl, whisk together 1 egg and 2 tbsp heavy cream to make your egg wash. Brush your egg wash generously onto each danish, coating the whole puff pastry and potatoes.
• Before baking, top your danishes with a sprinkle of sea salt, thinly sliced green onions, crisped bacon bits, and a generous sprinkle of fresh shredded sharp cheddar.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes. Then broil for 3-4 minutes to caramelize the cheese topping. Be careful not to burn your puff pastry.

Notes

• If you use bacon, cook before starting your piping and danish topping. Let cool and crumble. 
• You can experiment with different cheeses – I love cheddar, but you can also use parmesan, gouda, or whatever you have locally that’s sharp and salty. 
• Be mindful when broiling that the edges of your pastry will burn quickly.