Blueberry Walkaway
June 4, 2012 
Many years ago when I was a newlywed living in Chapel Hill, there was a bakery downtown that served pastries called Walkaways. They cut off a slice and gave it to you in a napkin and . . . you walked away with it. Anyway, we still call them that to this day. They're fruit stuffed pastries with cream cheese that are heavenly.
I would make them myself back then with (cringe) Pillsbury Crescent Roll dough, canned pie filling and some slices of cream cheese. That works, but this version is so much better. I actually use the dough for my Cinnamon Bread for these now. That dough recipe makes two loaves of bread - it also make two walkaways (or one loaf of cinnamon bread and one walkaway!). This recipe is halved to make one walkaway.
The pastry is topped with swedish pearl sugar, which is a finishing sugar for baking that doesn't melt. It's crunchy and pretty on top of your baked goodies. It is a little hard to find, but you can buy it here.
Since the dough requires two risings and this is a breakfast pastry, unless you get up very early, you may be discouraged about making it but don't be - you can save time by making the dough the night before, letting it rise and refrigerate it. The next morning, proceed with the rest of the recipe and it should only take about an hour and a half until you're slicing into this warm beauty.
Blueberry Walkway
for a printable recipe click here
makes one walkaway
you can substitute any flavor fruit and fruit preserves that you like. You can also double the recipe and make two walkaways, one blueberry and one raspberry - or whatever.
Make ahead tip: If you want to save some time making this in the morning, make your dough the night before, let it do the first rise and then punch it down in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. In the morning, take the dough out, roll it out and proceed with the rest of the recipe. I even make up the cream cheese mixture the night before and refrigerate.
Ingredients:
for the dough:
- ½ cup milk
- ⅓ cup water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- about 3½ cups cups of flour (more or less)
- 3 Tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons of instant dry yeast (fast acting yeast) or 1 packages of active dry yeast (I prefer instant yeast)*
- 1 extra large egg, room temperature
for the filling:
- 4 ounces of cream cheese, softened
- zest and juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- ½ cup blueberry preserves
- ¼ cup fresh blueberries
for the egg wash:
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon water
- 2 tablespoons swedish pearl sugar
Instructions:
Combine milk, water and butter in a small saucepan. Heat gently over low heat until liquids are just warm (not hot - it will kill the yeast). Remove from heat and stir until butter is melted.
Place 2 cups of flour, the sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl. If you're using a stand mixer, attach your dough hook. Mix for a few seconds and then gradually add the egg. Mix and then add the liquids and mix for a couple of minutes. (If you are not using a mixer, just do this process in a large bowl and use a wooden spoon and then your hands).
Add remaining cup of flour until dough clings to the hook and cleans the sides of the bowl. Add just enough flour until the dough gathers into a ball. You may have to add a little less or a little more than a cup. Knead for about 5 minutes. Place in a greased bowl. Cover and set in a warm location; let rise until double, about 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Mix the cream cheese, sugar and lemon zest in a small bowl.
Place a piece of parchment paper (the size of a baking sheet) on the counter. Punch the dough down and place on the parchment paper. Roll the dough out with a rolling pin until you have a 13"x16" rectangle (don't sweat about the exact size). A piece of wax paper or plastic wrap between your rolling pin and the dough will really help make the rolling easier. Spread the cream cheese mixture down the middle of the dough, in about a 4-inch strip, leaving an inch or two of dough at either end uncovered. Spread the blueberry preserves on top of the cream cheese and top with the fresh blueberries. Squeeze the lemon juice over the blueberries.
With a very sharp paring knife, cut strips on the diagonal down the sides of the dough. Make two cuts on each end to make an "end flap" (see photos). Fold the short end flaps over the filling and then start folding the diagonal strips of dough over. You can do all one side at a time or alternate strips from each side. Trim away excess. Slide walkaway and parchment paper right onto a baking sheet. Cover with a light towel; let rise for about 40 minutes. Preheat your oven to 375° F degrees.
Beat the egg with the water in a small bowl and brush the walkway with it, covering the entire surface. Sprinkle with the pearl sugar.
Bake at 375 F for 20 or 25 minutes, until golden brown. Slide off of parchment paper and place on serving platter or cutting board. You can serve it hot or warm or at room temperature. Cover lightly with plastic wrap if any is leftover.
Reader Comments (60)
What a Nice and beautiful tutorial! And a nice recepie, Nice touch with the swedish sugar, I'm a fan of it. Have a wondeful Day.
This looks and sounds delicious. It is really pretty and I will definitely make it soon! Thank you Elaine for a wonderful and beautiful blog. (I hesitate to call it just a blog, it is so much more!)
This looks wonderful. I can't wait to try this recipe.
This is beautiful. I love creating culinary masterpieces like this. I will definitely give it a try.
Omg...that looks so good...I'm totally making it, thank u for posting!
oh..my goodness..i am going to have to make this..it looks so beautiful and it must taste amazing..jane
What a delicious looking bread! Your blog never fails to inspire me and the details that you give are so clear - thank you so much.
what a great idea! + walkaway so cleaver. Grand Tutorial + thank you. xxpeggybraswelldesign.com
Wow, does his ever look delicious! I am going to give it a try later this week, and take it with me when I go to check in on my parents. I love your blog. I have tried many of your recipes and I have never been disappointed. There are not many food blogs one can say that about. In my opinion, the Italian Dish is one of the best I subcribe to. Thank you ever so much for being willing to share.
WOW!!!, I love this recipe. My son´s favourite cake is cheese cake with strawberry jam, so maybe I should make this lovely bread for him next time.
CONGRATULATIONS for it, and thans for sharing it with us.
Love from the north of Spain
Marialuisa
If I came to your house right now, could I please walkaway with one of these?? :)
These look really delicious, something that I would totally love. And I actually really like to make challenging things/time-consuming things on occasion. And this one just looks impressive -- and you did so great with your description and your illustrative pictures.
Will have to try soon. Thank you!
xoxo
Cheri
These pastries look lovely! While we don't have blueberries in Turkey, I could probably sub some other berries or cherries and achieve similar results. Bookmarking this one for the future! Thanks!
Can't wait to try this recipe. There's just something about baking with blueberries that takes an ordinary berry and turns it into this explosion of flavor. Also, very excited to have fun with pearl sugar, which I haven't even heard of before. Thanks for sharing!
This looks soo good. I love the ingredients and the way it is made.
The sugar can also be purchased at Ikea.
Walkaway I just love how the name evolved! This looks so good i can almost smell it coming out of the oven! Beautiful images and thoughtful instructions!
Carla x
Fabulous instructions...Thank you for the step by step pictures/details...I would never be able to make this without those! This looks amazing, I will try it tomorrow.
I too have tried many of your recipes...and had positive outcomes each time.
I just ordered the pearl sugar from Amazon and I'm making this for my tennis team next week. I found some delicious raspberry preserves so I'm going to try it with raspberries too! Thanks Elaine.
Love this recipe and the way you make the crust crispy with the foldovers. I use that pearl sugar in Belgian waffles also.
Take care,
Larissa @ Changes In Longitude
I tried to sign up for your RSS feed but wasn't able to. The icon at the top just went to a blank page and the icon at the bottom of your page went to Outlook. I wasn't aware that RSS feeds could go to Outlook, but I don't use it.
Any help would be appreciated.
Looking at the pictures makes me hungry.Thanks for sharing the procedures and ingredients on how to prepare so that I have an idea on how I will start making a blueberry bread.Hopefully it will have a great taste too
Thanks for this recipe, it turned out great and I can't wait to try it with other fruits!
I would like to caution against using wax paper to roll out the dough.
The dough will stick. Use another piece of parchment or oiled plastic wrap.
Thank you so much for the wonderful recipe, Elaine!
I had so much fun making/eating it~
Here is my take of this recipe:
http://blog.yam.com/tangerinecafe/article/51538886
Yours is soooooo much more beautiful..... :)
Hi,
I discovered your blog when I was searching for some Sicilian recipes (I spent a week in Sicily in June and already I want to go back). Anyway, this walkaway recipe looked very familiar. I'm from Finland, which is the promised land of this kind of pastries (we call the dough, and everything made with it, pulla). And you can get pearl sugar basically from any store here. So it's nice to see this kind of pastry being appreciated. We traditionally eat it for dessert, or with a cup of coffee in the afternoon.
Anyways, I love your blog and I've already found so many recipes I'm going to try. So thank you :)
I went blueberry picking the first of this week so I can't wait to try this! I'm wondering - I always freeze a portion of my blueberries to use during the winter months. What are your thoughts on making this in the winter with frozen blueberries instead of fresh?
Je l'ai faite aussi, elle est délicieuse ! Merci pour cette belle recette ! http://www.odelices.com/blog/brioche-tressee-aux-myrtilles-4848/
Looks divine - I cannot wait to make this for my family. I will try the blueberry for sure, but I may also try chocolate cream cheese with some chocolate chips. Yum! I just hope mine is half as beautiful as yours.
Hey everyone! I just made this! It is delish! Mine definitely has an overflow of jam, and i did not use the full amount in the recipe... but i did use blackberry jam, so maybe it was runnier. Next time I will use more cream cheese, more blueberries, less lemon, and less jam. I used regular sugar on top, and it was fine (definately going to hunt for some pearls though, so pretty!)
Just incase anyone is wondering, this is definately BREAD and not cake, or pastry. I was expecting a bit of a more pastry-like dough from how it looked in the pictures for some reason, but it's very much so like the bread on a cinnamon bun.
I will make this again to impress people! Unfortunately I didn't think it out and have way too much and it will probably be soggy by tomorrow! I guess i'll have to eat it all myself ;) how sad.
From The Italian Dish:
Meagan: The dough I use for the walkaways is, in fact, the dough I use for my Cinnamon Bread! I think I mentioned that in the post. This definitely makes a sturdy pastry that is great the next day. Also, there is a link to where to buy the pearl sugar in the post, if you have a hard time finding it. No one carries it where I live, so I always have to order it online.
Just made this and it came out absolutely delicious! It was a huge hit with the family and it looks so pretty too. Your instructions were great and made it so easy to follow - this recipe is definitely a keeper!
I made this yesterday with a mixed berry jam and frozen mixed berries, it was delicious. My fiance and I liked it when it was fresh out of the oven, but after it cooled we LOVED it. I'm storing it at room temp and it's holding up really well.
Thanks for the recipe, I'll be making this time and time again.
Je me suis permise de t'emprunter le façonnage pour ma dernière réalisation de brioche. C'est une très jolie manière de tresser une pâte briochée.
Made the blueberry walkaways last week, just made cinnamon bread and apple cinnamon walkaways from the double batch - A-MA-ZING. Thanks for the recipes!
Thank you so much. This was amazing. I made it last night and it disappeared!! My family LOVED it. I substituted Marscapone cheese for the cream cheese and it was great. I just started using your recipes a couple weeks ago when i was craving easter bread. Im hooked. You are fabulous!
Has anyone made this and then froze it for later? Just wondered how it was. Thanks!
This is SUPER yummy! It impresses everyone, and it looks so complex that everyone thinks it was bought at a bakery. Tried it with strawberries (the store was out of blueberry preserves) and it wasn't as good. Blueberries are the best!
thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
I've made it twice this week (once with blueberries for my team at work, once with blackberries for the family) - everybody was ecstatic! It's a new favourite....
As our store was out of pearl sugar I've topped the walkaway with sugarfrosting (powdered sugar and lemon juice) - that works great!
I made this just with finley ground Almond ,Egg and a little Sugar mixt together.I will try this Today with fruit.Thank you cant wait to Taste it..
Stumbled upon your blog by doing a google search for "sausage bean soup" to make today and now I am browsing ALL your recipes. I keep hitting the Pin It button! Your site is AMAZING and I look forward to trying these recipes!!!!!!!
I made this yesterday. So very good and very easy. Thanks for sharing!
Do you have any suggestions for making a savory version of this bread?
I made two of these a while ago. Gave one to my nephew and his wife after they had a baby. The other I took to work. The staff of 7 inhaled it. It's as pretty as it is delicious. You recipes are wonderful. I've made the mini lasagnas and limoncello too. Perfect!
Just made your blueberry walk away, I used Huckleberry instead of blueberries. Would love to send you picture of it. Not sure how to do that. Jtust took it out of the oven, will try to post how it was enjoyed.
Thanks for posting this.
Geri
I have made a similar bread for years. It is a favorite treat. In the cream cheese I put almond flavor rather than lemon. This is topped with a wild black raspberry sauce or jam. Our favorite filling is a ground poppy seed biscuit filing past down throw the family. It is ground seeds, milk, sugar cooked up and butter, vanilla, and cinnamon added at the end. Freeze it so it is handy for next time. Try adding this over the cream cheese and don't' forget to add some walnuts but no fruit.
I've made this multiple times now following the recipe, except I've used frozen blueberries, and it's always a big hit. I get a lot of credit for making a yeast bread, but thanks to your tutorial and great pics it's simple enough that I shouldn't get "extra credit". I'm trying the dough tonight following the make ahead tip, and I'm combining it with a recipe on fortheloveofcooking.net That recipe calls for canned crescent rolls to make a savory breakfast braid. I think it's going to be spectacular with this dough. The one thing I should add is that doubling the dough (or following the cinnamon bread recipe) is a little much for my stand mixer (the smaller Kitchenaid) to handle. It's really not a big deal to make two batches.
This bread is one used to impress people! My friend is from Sweden and this looks like what she likes to make for fika (an afternoon snack served with coffee or tea). In order to make it taste more authentic, I added a teaspoon of cardamom to the dough. Next time I have her over, I will surprise her with this yummy swedish pastry! Thank you!
where do you get Swedish pearl sugar?
From The Italian Dish:
Cathy: There is a link to where you can buy it in the post.
Made two of these last night. One blueberry and one with mascarpone and cinnamon/sugar. Beautiful & delicious!
Here's a photo of how they turned out:
http://instagram.com/p/rddEnwsfAx/
Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Hi everyone~~ I am rather new at baking and I have a question, please. You say that you can let it rise once, punch it down, then place in refrigerator overnight, covered. I get that far, lol. Pardon me for my ignorance, as I am 65 and still learning. When you take the dough out in the morning, where does the second rise come in? I seem to get that when it comes out of the refrigerator, you lay it out and then roll it. Have I missed something? Many thanks for your help. I never miss your blog, and have learned so much from it. Thanks in advance. Diane