California Avocado Danish

Apricot Glaze:

1. Heat the jam or preserves and the water in a small saucepan over medium heat until melted. Strain through a fine mesh sieve, let cool.

Pastry Cream:

1. Cut each avocado in half, remove the seed and then peel the skin from each half. With a 1½-inch round cookie cutter, cut out a round of avocado from the center of each half. Toss the ten rounds with lime juice, cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator.
2. Reserve 4 oz. of the remaining avocado. In a food processor, purée until smooth.
3. Whisk together the egg yolk, sugar and cornstarch in a medium bowl.
4. Pour the milk and vanilla extract in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and slowly add a little of the hot milk mixture into the yolk mixture while whisking constantly, pouring in more of the hot milk as you continue to whisk.
5. Pour the entire mixture back into the saucepan and return to medium heat, whisking constantly until the pastry cream has thickened to a pudding-like consistency.
6. Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter. Stir reserved avocado purée into the pastry cream. Place plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream and refrigerate until cool.

Assemble Danish:

1. Roll out your Danish dough to ¼-inch thick. Cut out 10 4-inch squares and place them on parchment or silpat-lined baking sheets. Fold the four corners into the center of each square, pressing the dough to adhere.
2. Proof the dough in a warm 80° place with high humidity, until it has nearly doubled in size. Refold any corners that came undone during proofing.
3. Preheat oven to 350°. Place 2 tablespoons of pastry cream in the center of each Danish. Brush the tops with the egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.
4. Allow to cool completely, then press one reserved avocado round into the center of each Danish. Brush each with apricot glaze. Serve.

* Large avocados are recommended for this recipe. A large avocado averages 8 ounces. If using smaller or larger avocados, adjust the quantity accordingly.