Cinnamon Bear Claws (Once a Month Cooking)

Tish's Note:

Pull these from the freezer for a yummy breakfast. Think ahead the night before for a quick warm roll directly from the over--the smell is sure to wake up the family and get them to the table!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 45 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• danish pastry dough, posted separately
• 4 tablespoons sweet butter, melted
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, mixed with
• 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or 1/2 cup pecans
• 1/4 cup chopped raisins
• 1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated

Sugar Glaze

• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon milk

Directions:

1. On a lightly floured pastry cloth or floured board, roll dough to an 18x9-inch rectangle.
2. Brush with half of butter, then sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar mixture, leaving a 1/4-inch edge all around. Combine nuts, raisins and peel.
3. Sprinkle evenly over sugared surface.
4. From longer side, fold one third of dough over.
5. Then bring opposite side over this, to make a three layer strip 18x3-inches.
6. Pinch together, to seal. With a sharp knife, cut strip crosswise into 6 sections.
7. On folded side of each, make 3 1-inch cuts, evenly spaced TO FREEZE: Arrange on tray.
8. Separate "claws" slightly.
9. Brush tops with rest of butter. Wrap tray with foil; seal, label and freeze TO BAKE: Line a cookie sheet with brown paper.
10. Arrange "claws" 2 inches apart on ungreased brown paper.
11. Let rise in warm place until double in bulk about 1- 1 1/4 hour. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 375°F.
12. Mix the ingredients for the sugar glaze together in a small bowl.
13. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.
14. Let cool slightly on wire rack.
15. Drizzle glaze over warm rolls.
16. Note: You can serve these in the morning for breakfast by pulling them out of the freezer the night before and let them thaw in the refrigerator overnight on a brown paper lined sheet.

Reviews

[rsarahl]

I love bear claws and enjoyed this recipe. The only issue I had was with the nuts and raisins. I bluntly chopped these filling ingredients and when I sliced the filled dough and then slit the claws a lot of the filling toppled out. I have since tried this recipe again having pulsed the nuts and raisins in the food processor into a coarsely ground paste (it only took a couple of pulses). The paste spread easily and adhered to the dough when sliced, yielding a batch of bear claws with all of the filling inside instead of some on the baking sheet. The taste is exactly the same(yummy), of course, just more filling in each claw! This pastry is a great breakfast treat, but is equally nice with a cup of afternoon tea. Thanks!

[oliveoil]

I put the 1 tablespoon butter, the sugar, cinnamon, nuts and raisin (or dried sweet cherries) in the food processor and mixed them altogether. The first batch I used all 4 T. of the butter, which was too much and the filling oozed out when baking. Backed off the amount of butter, since there is so much in the dough, you probably won't miss it. I didn't brush to tops with butter and they browned beautifully anyway. It did more folding on the dough recipe than it called for but my butter was firmer and was not distributing itself very well. I'll make more dough on some snowy day when I don't have anything better to do. Great recipe.

[pixieglenn]

I am horrible, I made this for Christmas morning '07 and am just now reviewing it! It was delicious and easy to make. We liked it much better than the store bought ones and I will definitely be making it again. We made it exactly as described and it came out perfect! Thanks Tish!