New Idea Food
Kerrie, or Kez (as she’s known around the office), is one of the many experienced recipe developers working at New Idea Food. She’s never short of inspiration, constantly coming up with achievable and reliable recipes for our dedicated readers.
She developed the Pear, Raspberry and Choc Danish as part of one of our regular air fryer features, designed to showcase just how versatile this handy kitchen gadget can be.
Ahead of shooting, Kez suggested capturing step-by-step images, incorporating these visuals into the shoot to give home cooks the confidence to recreate the Danish successfully.
Kez initially used Caramello chocolate, hoping the caramel centre would create a rich, gooey filling.
However, during testing, the chocolate split and dried out in the air fryer, losing the texture she was aiming for. She thought to substitute it with milk chocolate – it melt more evenly, but still provided that smooth sweetness to complement the pears and tartness of the raspberries.
The testing of the assembly process also came with its challenges.
Kez found that preparing both Danishes at once caused the pastry to soften while the frozen raspberries began to thaw and release moisture. This made the pastry soggy and difficult to handle.
Her solution was simple but effective: prepare and cook one Danish completely before moving onto the next one.
This minor adjustment results in crisp, flaky pastry and makes the recipe far easier for home cooks to follow. The final published recipe is only the tip of the iceberg, with every step carefully considered, tested and improved to ensure consistent results at home.
But this doesn’t mean you can’t experiment! Try swapping the pears for canned peaches, and for a richer, bolder flavour, sub the milk choc with dark.
Ingredients
Method
Spread pear slices on paper towel and pat dry.
Place one pastry sheet on a clean bench. Starting from the top, cut 8cm x 1.5cm diagonal strips down both sides of pastry, leaving an 8cm wide space in the centre to place filling.
Place half of the pears in the centre, leaving a 2cm border at each end. Sprinkle pears with 1 tsp sugar. Arrange half of the raspberries and half of the chocolate over pears.
Fold strips of pastry in a criss cross pattern over filling to enclose. Fold up ends of pastry, pinch together to seal.
Preheat air-fryer on 190°C for 5 mins. Line a 7-litre air fryer basket with baking paper. Carefully place Danish in basket. Brush with egg. Sprinkle over 1 tsp sugar. Air-fry on 190°C for 10-12 mins until golden. Carefully turn over. Air-fry on 190°C for a further 6-8 mins until golden.
Turn back over. Air-fry on 190C for 1 min until top is crisp. Use paper to lift Danish out of basket. Set aside. Repeat steps 2 to 6 to make another Danish.
Dust with icing sugar. Serve with ice-cream (optional).
