Cheese Danish

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This easy cheese Danish recipe couldn't be more authentic! Creamy filling & flaky, buttery pastry, but streamlined, simplified, and so yummy!

Prep Time1

Cook Time12

Resting Time2

Total Time3 12

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Danish

Keyword: cheese Danish, cheese Danish recipe, cream cheese Danish, Danish cheese pastry

Servings: pastries

Calories: 261kcal

Ingredients

For the pastry

2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter (divided), cold
1/2 cup milk (whatever kind you keep on hand), warm
1/4 cup water warm
1 egg large
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 teaspoons dry active yeast (1 packet)
egg wash (1 egg beaten with a teaspoon of water)
1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional garnish)
2 teaspoons powdered sugar (optional garnish)

For the filling

8 ounces cream cheese softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg large
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste (extract can be substituted)
2 teaspoons raspberry sauce (optional garnish)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

To make the pastry

Stir the flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl.
Cut or rub in 2 tablespoons of the cold butter, until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Make a well in the center, and pour in the milk, water, egg, and vanilla.
Sprinkle the yeast on top and allow it to dissolve (approx. 5 minutes).
Stir everything together until combined, then knead the dough until smooth and elastic (a full 10 minutes).
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and roll/pat it into a rectangle shape.
Cut the remaining cold butter lengthwise into several long, thin slices, and line half of them up in a flat square in the middle of the rectangle.
Fold one side of the rectangle over the butter, and stack the remaining butter on top in the same way.
Fold the other side of the rectangle over the second square of butter, pinching around the edges to seal the 2 butter squares inside the dough.
Sprinkle flour on the dough as needed to prevent sticking, and flatten and roll the dough and butter into a rectangle shape again, folding into thirds and repeating 3 times.
Chill the dough (covered) for one hour.
Divide the dough in half, then divide each half into thirds and each third into thirds again (you should have 18 equal portions).
Shape each portion of dough into a flat disc with a slight depression in the middle, and prick the depression with the tines of a fork to dock the dough and prevent it rising in the middle.
Fill with the cream cheese mixture, garnish with raspberry sauce, and tent with foil.
Rest the pastries for one hour.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Brush with egg wash, sprinkle sliced almonds around the edge, and bake until puffed and golden (approx. 8 to 15 minutes).
Dust around the edges with powdered sugar, if desired.

To make the cream cheese filling

Beat the cream cheese, sugar, egg, lemon juice, and vanilla together until smooth.

Notes

Nutrition