Raw Danish Pastry

Hi. I have two words for you. Danish pastry. The never ending popularity of these kind of sweets in scandinavia is unstoppable!

Yesterday I ate one, something I loved to do before I went into raw desserts. The reason for it is that I'm free from my gluten & lactose intolerance now and I have been trying out some bread and dairy products mostly for the cheer freedom of doing it. But after I've swallowed the last piece of the danish pastry it it struck me how different it feels to eat a commercial dessert compared to a raw version of it. HUGE difference. The danish pastry left me with one clear feeling: emptiness. It was as if my body didn't even register that I ate it at all. 

I'm used to the effect of eating raw desserts which is quite the opposite: 1) Feeling satisfied, 2) feeling how the whole body shifts into a higher state, 3) feeling the nutrients, 4) the quality, 5) the Self Love of making a better decision.. 

After this experience my brain instantly started to engineer a raw version of the danish pastry. I wanted to challenge myself and play with the colors and flavors and came up with a raw version to share with you! I came pretty close to what I wanted to achieve but there's still room for improvements.

Raw Danish Pastry, makes 6. 

Requires a dehydrator and 19-20 hours of drying time. Please read through the whole recipe in order to plan each step.

Paper thin pastry 

• 90 g soaked, rinsed Irish moss (make sure to squeeze out the water before measuring).

• 0.5 cup filtered Water

First, make some Irish moss paste by doing the following: Soak about a cup dry irish moss in water until it softens completely. Then go through piece by piece under running water to remove any impurity (small pieces of plastic, sea shells etc.) Put the irish moss in a plastic container with lid and add water, about 2/3 of the container. Put on the lid and shake the container intensely for 30 sec. Change the water and repeat two more times. As you will see the water gets cleaner and cleaner after each time. Don't rinse the irish moss too much though, as it will also wash away the carageenan (a natural gelatine) and the irish moss will not have the desired effect which is to act as a thickening agency. Don't worry about the fishy smell of the irish moss. You won't feel it once you mix it up with the rest of the ingredients! Let the cleaned irish moss soak in water for 3-4 hours for it to swell further. 

Use a scissor to cut the irish moss into pieces and put it in a high speed blender together with 0.5 cup filtered water and blend until smooth. This will take some time and you will want to work with a spatula to scrape down any bits of irish moss from the inside of the lid and jar of your blender. Your blender is going to heat up from all the blending, so that the irish moss paste become lukewarm. That is good as it activates the carageenan. Transfer the ready made irish moss paste to a little bowl / cup. It should be thick and smooth, not watery. The first time you do this it might seem complicated, but it really isn't. Continue with the rest of the ingredients for the paper thin pastry dough:  

• 1 cup Macadamia nuts

• 1 cup shredded Coconut

• 1.5 teaspoon real Vanilla

• 5 tablespoons Lúcuma (can be substituted to Mesquite)

• 1/4 teaspoon Himalayan salt

• 1.5 tablespoon juice from an organic Lemon

• 0.5 cup Agave nectar

• 1 1/4 cup filtered Water

• 0.5 teaspoon Sunflower lecitin (optional)

• Peeled Nectarine halves to go on top.

Grind the Macadamia nuts and shredded Coconut in a high speed blender into a fine flour. Add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix well. Now add the Irish moss gel, Lemon juice, Agave, Water and Sunflower lecitin and process until completely smooth. 

Pour the mixture over a dehydrator mesh screen with a plastic sheet on top. It is important that the mixture is as thin as possible. The technique you use to succeed with that is that you start pouring about a cup of the mixture over the sheet. Then you lean the mesh screen to one side, letting the mixture slide down. Do this in all four directions until the mixture is evenly spread. Also work with a spatula. When it is as thin as possible, you carefully shake it sideways to create a perfectly even surface, just like you would do when swirling two batters for a raw cheesecake *you will see what I mean*. Do this with two more mesh screens and put them into the dehydrator and start drying them in 105 F. 

Total Drying Time: 19-20 hours.

Flipping Time: After 12 hours, you can flip the paper thin pastry dough, by putting a mesh net on top of the pastry, hold it firmly with your palms and flip it carefully. Then you remove the mesh net that's been under the downside of the pastry dough, and peel off the mesh sheet by pulling in one corner. It's all quite logic.  

Continue to dry the pastry dough for another 7-8 hours and you are done.

Melted chocolate

• 50 g Cacao butter (1/4 cup as melted)

• 2 tablespoons raw Cacao powder

• 2 tablespoons Agave nectar 

In a water bath or by using the dehydrator, melt the Cacao butter slowly. Then blend by using a whisk, with the Cacao powder and Agave nectar until incorporated. Pour in a squeeze bottle if you have one. Otherwise you can drizzle the melted chocolate with a spoon. 

Assemble the dessert by breaking off pieces in the size of your palm and put them in layers to create height. On top of them you put a ripe, halved and peeled nectarine, then drizzle the melted chocolate over it all. 

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Thanks a lot for reading!

Much Love

/Karolina Eleonora~

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