Bear claw

A bear claw starts with a rich yeast dough that is laminated with cold butter, folded several times so it bakes up flaky and layered like other Danish pastries. A creamy almond filling, made by beating almond paste with sugar and butter and often adding pastry cream or ground almonds, is piped in a strip along the rolled-out dough. The dough is folded over the filling and sealed, cut into pieces, and each piece gets several short cuts along the sealed edge.

As the pastry proofs and bakes, the cut edge spreads open into the claw shape that gives it its name. Before baking it is brushed with egg wash and traditionally pressed with sliced almonds, and many bakeries finish it with a light glaze.