Filling
SAVORY
1. Cheese and Ham of your choice
While shaping your croissants, simply place a slice of cheese and one of ham at the center, like this.
2. Fresh cheese – cream cheese or ricotta.
3. Meat fillings
4. Liver Pate
5. Vegetable and herb mixtures
SWEET
1. Chocolate – Is a wonderful choice for sweet filling. Cocoa nips, dark, semi-dark, milk? All is excellent. Chips, or bars? Every shape can be used.
2. Dried fruit, fresh fruits, or sweetened fruit – like apricot, peach, apple, plum or raisin complement the flavor of butter very, very much, and also give your pastries a hint of sourness, yummy!
3. Jams – like apple or plum, pineapple, or berries. I have one apple in my fridge right now, so I will show you how to make your own apple filling. 🙂 What you need is 1 green apple, ½ cup of water, 1 tbsp. brown sugar, 1/8 tsp. of cinnamon powder, and 1 tbsp. raisin. (Enough for 6 pastries) (References: The Good Cook)
4. Cinnamon Butter – is a wonderful sweet filling for Danish pastry. Imagine your favorite sticky bun, now made with Danish laminated dough, only the best. To make this flavorful butter, simply cream 30g butter at room temperature with 2 tbsp. of brown sugar and 1 tsp. of cinnamon powder. And you have it. (Enough for 6 pastries) (References: The Good Cook)
5. Nuts paste – Like almond, pistachio, pecan, or hazelnut, basically every of your favorite nuts (well, except for coconut, since technically, it is a dry drupe ;)) I have some grounded almond in my pantry right now, what a coincidence, so I will demonstrate how to make almond paste. What you need is ½ tbsp. of butter, 45g sugar, 45g grounded almond, and enough beaten eggs. (You will know what is enough in the next steps) (Enough for 6 pastries) (References: The Good Cook)
Cream butter with sugar. Stir in grounded almond and enough egg just until you achieve a pliable consistency, like this. (I used about of beaten egg, it might varies a bit due to the dryness of your almond, but don’t worry about the leftover eggs, we can use it as egg wash for our pastries later)
6. Confectioner Custard (or egg yolk custard, or pastry cream, or pâtisserie Ă la crème) – I had searched for months a smooth, lump-free vanilla cream without satisfied result. Luckily, a friend of mine, Bolas De Fraile from Discussion Cooking forum, taught me this recipe and I have fallen in love since. (I cut the original recipe in third, enough for 15 pastries)
Ingredients
1 egg yolk
8g all-purpose flour
2/3 tbsp. corn four
75ml whole milk
All simple sugar syrup made below
35g sugar
Zest of ¼ lemon (optional)
30ml water
1/4 stitch of cinnamon (optional)
You can also adjust the taste and texture of your custard cream by following the instruction below, from Joy of Baking:
For lighter pastry cream – Fold in 40ml softly whipped cream to cooled pastry cream.
For Chocolate pastry cream – Add 20g of finely grated bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate to the hot pastry cream. Stir until melted.
For Coffee pastry cream – Add 1 tsp. instant espresso or coffee powder to the hot milk.
For Raspberry pastry cream – Add 20ml (or to taste) raspberry sauce to pastry cream.
7. Cream Cheese Filling (About 1-1/3 cups) (Reference: Wild Yeast)
Ingredients
226 g cream cheese
113 g sugar
19 g butter, at room temperature
28 g flour
21 g egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature (This is a little less than half a large egg. Save the rest of the egg to wash the pastries.)
4.5 g (1 t.) vanilla extract
Method
Soften the cream cheese with a hand mixer on low speed.
Add the butter and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
Add the sugar in three portions, mixing well after each addition.
Beat in the egg, then the vanilla.
This can be made ahead and refrigerated for several days. Bring it to room temperature before using.
8. Almond Filling (About 1-1/2 cup) (Reference: Wild Yeast)
Ingredients
112 g butter at room temperature
112 g sugar
112 g almond meal (or you can grind blanched almonds finely in a blender or food processor)
35 g flour
50 g (one large) egg, lightly beaten, at room temperature
3.4 g (3/4 t.) rum
Method
Blend flour and almond meal together.
With a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar in a medium bowl.
Add the egg little by little, mixing well after each addition.
Beat on medium speed until light.
Add the flour/almond meal mixture and mix until incorporated.
Add the rum and mix well.
This can be made ahead and refrigerated for several days. Bring it to room temperature before using.
Topping and Glazes
SAVORY
Toppings
Grated cheese of your choice – Parmesan, cheddar, or mozzarella.
Herb mixture – chopped parsley, or basil, or chopped garlic.
https://simplyafoodblog.wordpress.com/2012/05/20/my-croissant-chronicle-part-3-and-the-journey-continue-my-collection-of-danish-pastries-fillings-and-shaping/