patrícia furtado

Daring bakers time again again! This month’s recipe - a Danish laminated dough braid with a filling of our choice - was actually much easier than it seemed at first, ant the end results were very satisfying.

As the original recipe was enough for two braids, I decided to experiment with two different fillings. Lemon curd was the winner among all tasters.

I only tweaked the original recipe a little bit, firstly because I didn’t find any cardamom, and was unable to go look for it, so I used some cinnamon and nutmeg instead. Secondly, I only realised I didn’t have any oranges when it was too late, so I replaced the orange juice and zest with lemon. It tasted delicious anyway.

This month’s challenge was hosted by Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and Ben of What’s Cookin’?, and you can check all the other’s wonderful braids by visiting the Daring Bakers blogroll.

As for the long braid recipe, you can read Kelly’s post, with great step by step instructions and photos. For the lemon filling, here’s the recipe:

Lemon Curd

2 eggs
1/4 cup of lemon juice
Zest of half a lemon
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

On a metal bowl or on top of a double boiler, mix the eggs, lemon zest an juice and sugar until blender. Place the bowl over of a pan of simmering water and cook, always whisking to prevent lumping and curdling. When it’s nice and thick, remove from heat, add the butter in small pieces. Mix well till the butter has melted and the lemon curd is smooth.