French Schnecken Danish (Cream Roll)
The Schnecken Danish (aka Le Chinois), originated from Alsace, France. The word “Schneckenkuchen” actually comes from German meaning “Snail Cake”. Hence the shape of this delicious Cream Roll Danish.
As History goes, or simply as the Story goes: The first person who brought this Danish abroad could not understand what the Alsacian Baker was telling him. As a result, he simply replied “De toute façon, pour moi, c’est du chinois”, meaning “this is like Chinese to me, I have no idea what he is saying”. Therefore, the name “Chinois” (Chinese) stayed as the French Gastronomy Name to describe it (Wikipedia).
I found this Amazing recipe on Dounia’s Instagram (@dounia_mingoro_cisse).
These Danishes turned out so Amazing (wait until you see them sliced), I could not wait to show off my new Rectangular Flexipat® Tray!
Enjoy & Bon Appétit!
As always, you will find the Step-by-Step Video below the recipe.
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French Schnecken Danish (Cream Roll)
Equipment
Ingredients
CREME PATISSIERE FILLING (PASTRY CREAM)
DANISH DOUGH
- 3 1/4 cups (400 g) flour
- 3 Tbsp (50 g) sugar (Divided – 1 Tbsp + 2 Tbsp)
- 1 1/2 tsp (8 g) active dry yeast
- 1 egg
- 7 Tbsp (100 g) butter (softened)
- 1/16 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup (60 g) milk (Warm)
- 1 cup (145 g) golden raisins
- 1/2 cup (80 g) Chocolate Sprinkles
- 1 egg yolk (For eggwash)
SIROP
- 1/2 cup (100 g) water
- 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar
Instructions
CREME PATISSIERE FILLING (PASTRY CREAM)
- In a Medium Sauce Pan, whisk the milk, vanilla paste, sugar, egg yolks and corn starch together.
- Turn the stove ON and cook on low heat for about 10-15 minutes. Keep on moving your whisk in a "8" figure movement, until the pastry cream has thicken. Turn off the heat as soon as the first boiling bubbles appear.
- Then, pour the pastry cream in a bowl and cover with a plastic film to contact. This will avoid the cream to form a "crust" when being refrigerated. Let it cool down about 10 minutes on your kitchen counter then place it in your fridge while preparing the Danish Dough.
DANISH DOUGH
- In a small sauce pan, bring the milk with 1 Tbsp of Sugar to a warm temperature. It should feel nicely lukewarm.
- Then, whisk in the active dry yeast and let it set for 10min.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, with the hook attachment, mix together on the lowest setting the flour, sugar and salt. (about 30 seconds). Then mix in the egg (about 1 minute).
- Then, add the milk/yeast mixture and beat on medium low for about 2-3 minutes.
- Add the softened butter, and continue beating on medium low for another 7-10 minutes. Your dough is ready once it does not stick to the sides of your bowl. Depending of the flour you use, you might need to add a 1/4 tsp of flour at a time if the flour is too sticky.
- Preheat oven at 350F/180C.
- Place your Rectangular Flexipat® Tray on the top of your Medium Perforated Baking Sheet.
- Once the dough has doubled, punch the dough down onto your Roul'Pat™ and roll the dough into a large rectangle (about 0.5"/1cm thick). The dough is a bit sticky so do not hesitate to add a little bit of flour onto your Roul'Pat™ if necessary.
- Take your Pastry Cream out of the Refrigerator. Spread it uniformely onto the dough with your offset spatula. Then, add the golden raisins and the chocolate sprinkles all over the pastry cream.
- Carefully roll your dough lenghwise. Using your Pastry Knife, cut 12 equal segments and place them directly onto your Flexipat® with the swirl facing upwards (3 rows of 4).
- Brush your Danish with an egg yolk, add a dash of milk if needed.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 350F/180C. (Every oven heats differently, monitor your Danish from 20min)
SIROP
- While your Bread is baking in the oven, prepare the sirop.
- In a small sauce pan, heat on medium-low water and sugar.
- Once the the sugar has melted, remove from heat and set aside.
- Once your Danish is out of the oven, let it cool down for about 10min. Then, slide it onto your serving plate.
- Brush the sirop over (This is the secret to give it a nice shinny coat like in a French Bakery).
- Serve and Enjoy! Bon Appétit!
Video
Special Notes
Nutrition
Can you check quantities on the dough? 1/4 cup milk is not enough for 3 cups of flour.
Thanks!
Hello Ann, yes it may seem at first that it is not enough. As a matter of fact when I made it myself I felt the dough was more dry at this stage than what I have baked in the past, I still went along and trusted the recipe. As once you add the butter and let your dough hook do his thing, it will be the one giving that nice texture to your roll. Of course, like any flour, we all use different brands so they may need more or less hydration. You know your flour so if you are at the stage past the last 10 minutes after you have added the butter and your dough does not come out nicely through the sides, I would add 1 Tbsp of warm milk at a time and see how it reacts. I hope this was helpful to you. Cheers!