Almond Cream Puff Pastry Braid
Almond Filled Puff Pastry Braid – Just like the Bear Claw, just much, much easier! This Puff Pastry Recipe is filled with a thick layer of the almond filling, then topped with a tangy powdered sugar glaze.
Do you remember I posted a recipe for the Almond Filling and I said it was very versatile? Well, guess what? This beautiful thing right here is filled with that cream! A whole lot of it too! If you like Bear Claw Pastries, or the Almond Croissants eating this Almond Filled Pastry Braid will very much remind you of it. After all it’s got the same filling and almost the same dough.
I didn’t have any sliced almonds on hand, otherwise, I would definitely throw some on top of this braid. Also, if you have fresh or frozen berries lying around, go ahead and sprinkle them on the filling before braiding the puff pastry and it will make an already awesome braid, even more awesome. Promise.
Almond Cream Puff Pastry Braid
Yields: 2 small braids or 1 long one.
Ingredients for the Puff Pastry Braid:
- Puff Pastry (Pepperidge Farm)
Almond Cream:
- unsalted butter (about 1 stick and 1 Tbsp), room temperature
- granulated sugar
- eggs, room temperature
- ground almonds (either store-bought or ground using a food processor)
- all-purpose flour
- vanilla extract
- almond extract
Egg Wash:
- egg
- water
- Granulated Sugar for Sprinkling
Glaze:
- powdered sugar
- milk
How to make the Almond Cream Puff Pastry Braid:
Make the Almon filling:
- Combine all ingredients together in a mixer and beat for about 2-3 minutes until light, fluffy and well combined.
- For a neater way to pipe the filling fill a ziplock bag with the filling and seal it (or just use a spoon to transfer filling to the puff pastry sheet later). Set aside.
Make the Puff Pastry Braid:
- Thaw puff pastry sheets on the counter until you’re able to unfold them. If you wish to make one large braid, place 1 sheet on top of the other and roll it out on a well-floured surface until 15 x 11 inches. If you want 2 smaller braids, roll each sheet to 12″x 12″.
For 1 large braid use all filling at once. If making two smaller ones, split the filling between the two braids.
- Score the sheet/s along the narrower end into about 1-inch strips (do not cut through). Now visually divide the dough into thirds along the wider end. Snip the end of the filled ziplock bag and squeeze the filling into the middle third, or use a spoon to spoon the filling onto the puff pastry.
This one is the 16″ x 12″ inches braid that uses 1 whole recipe of the Almond Cream Filling.
- Using a knife cut the unfilled ends along the scored lines, now braid the puff pastry by alternating overlapping strips from right, then left sides until you reach to the end. Press the ends of the braid so the filling does not come out.
- To prevent the filling leaking out while baking, freeze the braid for at least 1 houf before proceeding with the next step. {I didn’t do this step for pictures below}.
- Whisk the egg and water together. Brush the frozen braid with the eggwash. Sprinkle with sugar and bake in a preheated to 400F oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden in color and puffed up in the middle. If the pastry starts getting too dark before it’s puffed up and golden everywhere, place a sheet of foil on top and continue baking until completely baked through.
This picture is of the 12″x 12″ sheet, which is filled with only 1/2 the Almond Cream Filling recipe. If using this size, you will get 2 puff pastry braids.
While the puff pastry braid is baking, make the glaze.
- To make the glaze combine the powdered sugar, almond extract and just half the milk. Whisk. Add more milk if too thick until the glaze is thick but pourable.
- Once the puff pastry braid is baked through, remove from the oven and let cool. If some of the filling oozed out, simply break it away for a better presentation.
Do you see the absolutely amazing crust that the sugar and eggwash form? It’s crunch is what my dreams are made of!
- Cool the braid on a cooling rack. Snip off the of the end of the ziplock bag with the glaze and drizzle the top in a zig-zag motion.
Here are some more Pastry Desserts:
- Cheesecake Danish Recipe – Pastry desserts with sweet cheesecake filling and drizzled with Lemon Sugar Glaze.
- Apricot Almond Pastries – Another super simple pastry dessert with apricots.
- Raspberry Cheesecake Danish – Puff Pastry braid filled with a cheesecake filling and raspberries.
Almond Cream Puff Pastry Braid
Almond Filled Puff Pastry Braid - Just like the Bear Claw, just much, much easier! This Puff Pastry Recipe is filled with a thick layer of the almond filling, then topped with a tangy powdered sugar glaze.
Ingredients
- 2 sheets of Puff Pastry Pepperidge Farm
Almond Cream
- 125 g unsalted butter about 1 stick and 1 Tbsp, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 3/4 cups ground almonds
- 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extrac
- 1 tsp almond extract
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 Tbsp water
- 2-3 Tbsp Granulated Sugar for Sprinkling
Glaze:
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 2-3 tsp milk
Instructions
Make the filling:
-
Combine all ingredients together in a mixer and beat for about 2-3 minutes until light, fluffy and well combined.
-
Fill a ziplock bag with the filling and seal it. Set aside.
Make the Braid:
-
Thaw puff pastry sheets on the counter until you're able to unfold them. If you wish to make one large braid, place 1 sheet on top of the other and roll it out on a well floured surface until 16 x 12 inches. If you want 2 smaller braids, roll each sheet to 12"x12".
-
For 1 large braid use all filling at once. If making two smaller ones, split the filling between the two braids.
-
Score the sheet/s along the narrower end into about 1 inch strips. Now visually divide the dough into thirds along the wider end. Snip the end of the filled ziplock bag and squeeze the filling into the middle third.
-
Using a knife cut the unfilled ends along the scored lines, now braid the puff pastry by alternating overlapping strips from right, then left sides until you reach to the end. Press the ends of the braid so the filling does not come out.
-
Whisk 1 egg and 1 Tbsp water together. Brush the braid with the egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar and bake in a preheated to 400°F oven for 30-35 minutes or until golden in color and puffed up in the middle. If the pastry starts getting too dark before it's puffed up and golden everywhere, place a sheet of foil on top and continue baking until completely baked through.
While the puff pastry braid is baking, make the glaze.
-
To make the glaze combine 1/2 cup powdered sugar, a dash almond extract, and just half the milk. Whisk. Add more milk if too thick until the glaze is thick but pourable.
-
Once the puff pastry braid is baked through, remove from the oven and let cool. If some of the filling oozed out, simply break it away for a better presentation.
-
Cool the braid on a cooling rack. Snip off the of the end of the ziplock bag with the glaze and drizzle the top in a zig-zag motion.
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Marina | Let the Baking Begin
This recipe is absolutely delicious! My husband has been looking for the perfect homemade almond pastry for years, and after I made this, he said we found it! I made a couple of small enhancements – before I adding the filling, I lined the center of the dough with sliced almond paste and marzipan and put the filling over it. I also added sliced almonds on top of the icing. We loved it so much, he and I (along with our 2 sons) finished it within 24hrs and I made another one the next day!!! Can’t wait to share it with family and friends!
Oh, that’s amazing! Thank you for sharing, so glad you guys liked it!
I was looking online for an almond pastry recipe and I came upon yours. I will be making it in a few weeks, for my start-of-the-season Christmas Breakfast for my lady friends. I read through your recipe and saw that you were starting nursing school, four years ago. Just wondered how it all went! I remember the difficulty of getting accepted to nursing school when I attended in 1979–it’s probably more competitive now. But I know you will see that you made the correct choice! It’s a very rewarding career.
Hi Josie!
I hope your lady friends enjoy this awesome almond pastry braid!
It’s definitely very competitive these days to get into the nursing school, but I was blessed enough to get in on my first try and I have graduated as of last summer. Right now I am in the process of pursuing my Bachelor’s degree 😀 Thank you for your encouragement!
Tried this this morning. Added cherry preserve before the almond cream. Absolutely delicious!! Will now become my party trick for when guests come over! Thankyou so much
Cherries sound awesome! thanks for sharing!
Want to bake the night before. Will it keep well in the refrigerator?
Yummy! Made this today and it was excellent. I actually made small individual ones (not braided) instead of one big one. Makes 12 small ones – baked 20 mins. Excellent! Thank you
Hiya, this really does look so yummy! i will be making this tomorrow hopefully. But i wanted to ask when you are done baking, does the filling have a cake kind of texture??
Hi Sonia,
Yes, the filling kind of resembles cake, but I would say a little more moist.
I made this today and it’s absolutely delicious! I’m a sucker for almond cream and this was so amazing! Thank you for a great recipe! Also I noticed a little correction for you, in the glaze, you put 1/2 cup of granulated sugar instead of powdered sugar 😉
Haha, yeah, no glaze with granulated sugar, thanks for the catch! I’m glad you enjoyed this recipe! – it’s one of my favorites!
These were great! In case anyone was wondering the technical term for this recipe is ‘bear claw’. Bears in the 1800’s were notorious for leaving bear footprints in the dirt near the infamous chef’s house, Pierre Le’Claw. he was outside his house frolicking with batch of pastry dough one sunny afternoon as was his normal custom when he slipped and dropped the dough right into a bear print. As he looked up and saw the mess he had created he realized the beauty that shown through the dirt. From there he created the ‘bear claw’ pastry! Over the years though people have become lazy and rather than pronounce two words they have began calling this delicious pastry the braid. Please, take some time as you make this pastry to honor this its creator by correctly calling it a ‘bear claw’! Enjoy!!
Thank you for such extensive insight into the name of this pastry! In my understanding the traditional dough for it was meant to be that of the danish. Since my dough was not that of the danish, and the shape wasn’t traditional to the bear claw, I decided to call it by it’s descriptive name. Not that it affected the taste 😉
I made this using another recipe, and the filling was not as firm as yours appears. I used a hand mixer (what i have) so i wondered if i “over-processed” the mixture. I also had the butter “softened” and maybe that was a factor. as a result of those issues, I lost a lot of the filling compared to yours. Any thoughts on what went wrong? BTW, it was tasty, and i did break off the excess but i see how dense your filling was when done. I had less than half that amount in mine… Thanks in advance for your feedback.
Congrats girl! That is so exciting! Mama, wife, and a student – that’s a handful but I know you will do great! I have a feeling you’re a hard head and will do just fine 🙂
I’m so happy for you friend and knew you’d get it. Just please don’t disappear from the Blog, we’d miss ya terribly… 🙂 :). I might just have to fly down for graduation;)
Oh I had tears in my eyes reading this. I am so proud of you, Marina! How incredible is this, you are one hot commodity! You know already that school is hard and challenging but it is also rewarding and what you get in the end is worth all the hard work not only because you get your degree but because of what it does to your character in the process. I am so excited for you!!! Also, that pastry braid is to die for! You are good at too many things. 🙂
CONGRATS !!!!! I’M SURE YOU’LL BE A GREAT NURSE.:) and this almond braid is a most!!!! I’ll be baking this as soon as possible. Thanks for the recipe. GBY:)
Thank you Agnes! I am really looking forward to this next chapter in my student life!
let me know how you like it once you try it 😉
Hello, do you use raw ground almonds or roasted ones? Thank you.
Hi Lana,
For this recipe use raw almonds.
Congratulations on your acceptance to nursing program!!!
Thank you!!