This buttery, flaky, and budget-friendly Cheese Danish recipe is ridiculously easy to make and can be on your table in under a half hour.
Prep time: PT10M
Cook time: PT15M
Total time: PT25M
Rating
4.73 stars (22 reviews)
Keywords
Cheese Danish, Cream Cheese Danish, Danish
Ingredients
8 oz. cream cheese (softened, $2.19)
1/3 cup powdered sugar ($0.11)
1 tsp vanilla extract ($0.58)
1 pinch salt ($0.01)
1 sheet puff pastry (thawed, $2.75)
1 egg (yolk and white separated, $0.09)
1/2 cup powdered sugar ($0.16)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract ($0.15)
2 Tbsp milk ($0.03)
Categories
Breakfast
Brunch
Dessert
Cuisine
European
Steps
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place your oven's rack in the center and preheat it to 400°F. Mix the cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla, egg yolk, and salt until smooth and light in texture.
Unfold the sheet of puff pastry, dust off excess flour, and place it on the baking sheet. Cut down the seams of the folds so you have three equal-sized strips. Cut the strips into halves.
Use a fork to perforate around the sides of each puff pastry rectangle, leaving a half-inch border. This prevents the puff pastry from rising in the middle.
Add 2 heaping tablespoons of your cream cheese mixture to each square. Spread evenly, making sure to leave the borders clean.
Beat the egg white until frothy. Dip a pastry brush into the beaten egg white and trace lightly along the borders. This will give the puff pastry a glossy finish and golden color.
Bake at 400°F for 10 minutes then rotate the baking sheet, front to back. Continue to bake for 5 to 10 minutes, or until the borders of the puff pastry have risen and are golden brown. Use a spatula to remove the pastries from the sheet pan and cool on a rack.
In a separate bowl, mix the powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk. Cool the Cheese Danish before adding the icing so it doesn't melt into the pastry. Finally, drizzle over cooled Cheese Danish and watch your loved ones gobble them down! Optional: drizzle with 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam thinned with 1 teaspoon of water.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 1 danish
Calories: 438 kcal
Carbohydrates: 38 g
Protein: 6 g
Fat: 29 g
Sodium: 240 mg
Reviews
Ba on 2025-01-09 (5 stars): Amazing. Best cheese danish I’ve ever eaten.
Amelia on 2024-12-25 (5 stars): These were so easy and unbelievably good! I used the refrigerated puff pastry and was able to cut in 8 and had plenty of the cream cheese filling! Will be making again in the very near future!
Charles Sadler on 2024-08-17 (5 stars): I was hoping not to see this recipe again! The last time I made them, I devoured most of them. A good time for me but not for others. This time, for my penance, Three couples will get two each. Thanks again!
Lisa huntsman on 2024-08-07 (5 stars): I'm. Hungry
Aedha on 2024-07-28 (5 stars): My boyfriend and I made these today as breakfast meal prep and they’re amazing! We added lemon curd on top of them before putting them in the oven and it made them even better! The crust was perfectly golden brown but if I were to make them again, i’d bake them for maybe 13 minutes instead of 15 so that they won’t get too dark in the toaster when I heat them up for breakfast!
Melanie Francis on 2024-07-27 (5 stars): Thank you!!! These were a hit and so easy to make very low effort. Right up my alley 😊
Johanna on 2024-07-24 (5 stars): Wonderful recipe! All my friends enjoyed it!
Elisaa on 2024-07-20 (5 stars): I made these per the recipe. They are delicious. I will make them again.
Avery on 2024-06-18 (5 stars): 8 oz cream cheese is now $4.98 and a box of puff pastry (2 pcs) $6.99. But the recipe is divine.
Alexis on 2024-03-25 (5 stars): Thank you! Just wanted to leave 5 stars for you. A really quick and easy reference that I needed 😊 they turned out great. The filling was the right amount for two sheets for me - but I also baked a compote on top, so depending on how much filling you want it could still work for a single sheet.
One trick that works great for the over spill - start with a little less filling, after the pastry starts to puff at the edges in the oven pull it out and add the rest of the filling so it’s contained and then finish baking. Helpful if you like a lot of filling. Cooling on a wire wrack also prevents the bottoms from getting soft.
Linda Smith on 2024-02-09 (5 stars): These danishes baked up nicely! I wanted to lower the carbs so I substituted a monkfruit erythritol powdered sweetener and added 1 t lemon juice to filling... I skipped the icing but will top with some of my homemade sugar free strawberry preserves!
Brindha on 2024-01-27 (4 stars): Tried exactly as written. Very yummy but i would do these tweaks for our family's taste next time. Increase sugar throughout in cream cheese mixture and drizzle.Reduce cream cheese mixture to 2/3 of the said amount as i had to throw away few tbsps. As ovens are different keep a close watch mine was done in 13 mins total.
