CREAM CHEESE DANISH
Before there was a coffeehouse chain on every corner, the only establishment in the suburbs to take your children to and let them be loud was McDonald’s. A few neighborhood moms, mine included, would take us one morning a week. There the adults would sit, sipping hot coffee while all the kids were placed at a nearby booth, coloring and begging for more greasy hash browns. I remember my mom often ordering a cheese Danish with her coffee, the sight of it making me wrinkle my nose in horror. Cream cheese was an ingredient in onion dip or something far worse. Why would it taste any better covered in sugar? Sadly, I was almost thirty before I finally understood. makes 6 danish pastries
½ recipe Easy Danish Dough
6 ounces (170 g) cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup (50 g) sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (optional)
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon (15 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugar, egg, vanilla, lemon zest (if using), salt, and butter and mix on low until completely combined. Cover the bowl and put in the fridge until ready to use.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Flour a work surface and roll the Easy Danish Dough into a 10 by 14-inch rectangle, flouring as needed so the dough doesn’t stick. Use a pastry cutter to trim any rough edges of the rectangle and discard them. Cut the dough in half horizontally and cut each half into thirds, for a total of six pieces. Place a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese filling in the center of each piece. Fold up the opposite corners of the dough and pinch together to seal, so all four corners are pinched in the middle of the pastry.
Place the shaped dough on the prepared baking sheet and brush each piece with the egg wash. Loosely cover the dough with plastic, and let the dough rise until puffy (feeling similar to a marshmallow when pressed), about 1½ hours.
Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
If the corners of the dough have separated while rising, gently pinch them back together. Bake 15 to 17 minutes, until the Danish pastries are golden brown.
Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let cool. Drizzle the Danish pastries with Confectioners’ Sugar Glaze.
NOTES: You can add fresh or frozen berries, a swirl of jam or chocolate ganache, and even a handful of raisins to the Danish along with the cream cheese filling. Just remember not to overfill or it will ooze out of the pastry as it bakes.
Recipe can easily be doubled to make 12 Danish pastries.