Icing

Ingredients

Toppings

Preheat oven to 400° F

Break up your almond paste into smaller chunks and add it to your food processor. Add the butter and sugar and mix and combine.

Crack the egg and put it in a small, separate bowl, and lightly beat it with a fork. Add half of the beaten egg to your almond mixture. Set the other half aside for brushing the pastry before it goes into the oven.

Then add the flour and mix the almond paste mixture again so the paste is smooth. Use your spatula to scrape the sides to make sure the ingredients are well combined.

On a floured surface, unroll one of your pastry sheets. You should see two, fold line indentions, that separate the dough into three even sections. Cut the dough along those perforated lines so you have three long pieces of puff pastry.

Keep one of the long pieces of puff pastry in front of you and set the other two aside. Spread about two tablespoon of the almond paste on half of the pastry piece in front of you. Fold over the bare half of puff pastry so it's on top of the half with almond paste. Use a fork to crimp the edges, like a pop tart. Make sure it's sealed well. Repeat this step with each sheet of puff pastry dough.

Make four even cuts, from the center of your Bear Claw all the way to the crimped edge. Cut all the way through your pastry. Gently pull the cuts apart to make a curved, claw shape.

Line your baking sheet with parchment paper and lay your bear claws on it.

Brush the leftover beaten egg on the top of each Bear Claw.

Sprinkle sliced almonds and coarse sugar (if you have it) on top of each Bear Claw.

Bake for 16-18 minutes. Set your Bear Claws aside to cool.

To make icing: whisk powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl until it's runny and smooth for drizzling.

When your Bear Claws are cooled, use a spoon to drizzle the icing over the top of your pastries in a zigzag pattern.