You could wait to bake this cinnamon danish recipe for Mother’s Day, but why would you? The apple rosettes topping each cinnamon danish make them almost too pretty to eat. Usually, apple danishes can be no-holds-barred confections with sticky-sweet fillings that barely resemble fruit which is what makes these cinnamon danishes that lean in on the idea of baking with little added sugar so appealing.
A Cinnamon Danish with Flower Power
Did you know that figs are inverted flowers? So, each pretty apple rosette cinnamon danish has another kind of flower in it too. Make our Quick Fig Jam to use inside the danishes.
The cinnamon danish recipe is a showstopper. While all the flavors meld together, it’s the apple rosettes that really catch the eye!
Sliced apples, tossed with ginger, lemon juice, and a bit of cinnamon, made a perfect filling. Rolling the puff pastry around the apple slices created rose-like Danishes that were as pretty as they were delicious. Par-baking the apple slices ensured that they were pliable enough to roll into the rosettes without them breaking.
Baking with Less Sugar
We wanted a simple, fruit-forward filling that wasn’t laden with sugar but still tasted pleasantly sweet. We decided to brush a small amount of fig spread onto the puff pastry to give the Danish a sweet tart base.
A sprinkle of cinnamon sugar gave us the sweetness we craved without going overboard; tasters preferred coconut sugar over sucanat, since its neutral sweetness allowed the fruit flavor to shine through.
Using Puff Pastry for Cinnamon Danish
Danishes are also a production to make; the flaky dough alone can take hours, not to mention the time required to make the filling. Luckily, store-bought puff pastry proved to be a perfect base for our Danish: it’s easy to work with, takes no time to prep.
To thaw frozen puff pastry, let it sit either in the refrigerator for 24 hours or on the counter for 30 minutes to 1 hour. An equal amount of granulated sugar or sucanat can be substituted for the coconut sugar. For an especially pretty presentation, sprinkle with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
Cinnamon Danish Recipe with Apple Rosettes + Figs
Ingredients
- 2 apples 6 ounces each, cored, halved, sliced thin
- 1 tbsp unsalted butter melted and cooled
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 puff pastry sheet 9 1/2" x 9", thawed
- 2 tbsp Quick Mission Dried Fig Jam
- 1 cup Orchard Choice or Sun-Maid California Figs dried, stemmed, chopped fine
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Toss apples with melted butter, lemon juice, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, ginger, and salt in bowl. Spread apples in single layer on parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake until softened, about 10 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle, about 10 minutes.
- Line clean baking sheet with parchment and spray with vegetable oil spray. Combine coconut sugar with remaining ½ teaspoon cinnamon in bowl.
- On floured counter, roll pastry into 12 by 10-inch rectangle, with long side parallel to counter edge. Brush fig spread evenly over top. Sprinkle chopped figs over fig spread, pressing gently to ensure they stick to surface. Sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture evenly over surface. Using sharp knife or pizza wheel, cut pastry lengthwise into six 10 by 2-inch strips.
- Working with 1 strip of dough at a time, shingle 12 apple slices, peel side out, down the length of dough, leaving 1-inch border of dough along bottom. Fold bottom inch of dough over bottom of apple slices, leaving top of apple slices exposed. Roll up dough and apples into tight pinwheel and place, apple side up, on prepared sheet.
- Bake until golden brown and crisp, 22 to 26 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let Danish cool on sheet for 15 minutes before serving.