Ingredients
150g marzipan
125g softened butter
3 tbsp caster (granulated) sugar
1 portion of Danish pastry dough
1 egg
50-100g poppy seeds
Flour for dusting
Mix the marzipan, butter and sugar together to make a smooth paste and set aside at room temperature.
Roll out the pastry dough on a lightly floured work surface to 56x36cm, then cut in half length-wise. Roll both out a little more until you have a pair of even-sized rectangles, each measuring 60x18cm.
Halve the marzipan filling. Take one portion and spread it evenly, lengthways, one one half of a dough rectangle. Fold the plain half over the marzipan half to give a filled pastry rectangle measuring 60x9cm. Repeat with the other dough rectangle. Push the seams of the dough gently together.
Brush both with the egg (reserve the remaining egg) and dredge with poppy seeds. Cut crossways into 5cm pieces and place them on baking sheets lined with baking parchment. Cover with a tea towel and leave to rest in a warm place for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 220 C / 425 F / gas mark 7.
Brush each pastry with the reserved egg on the cut sides so they turn brown. Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 200C / 400 F / gas mark 6, and bake for another 15 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack.
Basic Danish pastry dough
25g fresh yeast
150ml water
1 egg, lightly beaten
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
325g flour, plus more to dust
300g cold butter, in thin slices
Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water, stir to dissolve, then add the egg, salt and sugar.. Stir in the flour and knead the dough with your hands until it is even and light. Put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm, and leave in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rough 45cm square. Arrange a square of butter in the centre at 45 degree angle to the corners of the dough, so it forms a smaller diamond inside the pastry square. Fold the corners of the pastry over the butter to encase it fully and seal the joints well. Roll out the dough again carefully, this time into a rectangle, making sure it does not crack and expose the butter.
The fold the short end one-third over into the centre, and the other short end over that: you are folding the rectangle into three, as you would a business letter. Wrap in cling film and rest once more in the refrigerator for 15 minute.
Repeat this rolling and folding procedure three times in total, remembering to let the dough rest for 15 minutes in the refrigerator between each.
Marzipan
500g almonds (skin on or off)
100g icing sugar (plus more to dust)
Whizz the almonds in the food processor until they become a paste. Add the icing sugar, whizz again, then add 50ml (3 tbsp) of water and whizz once more.
Take the marzipan out of the food processor and knead it on a work surface dusted with icing sugar.
Keeps for two weeks wrapped in clingfilm in the refrigerator.