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If you love pastries, you’re going to love these bakery-style danishes. They are such a treat! These pecan pie cream cheese danishes are a fall twist on one of our favorite pastries: the danish. A buttery flakey danish dough filled with cream cheese filling and topped with pecan pie filling. DELISH!
One of our favorite things to do on a weekday morning is go on a coffee run and get a little sweet treat. But, what we love more is recreating and revamping some of our cafe favorites to make at home.
We’ve created a super simple recipe for the danish dough, that anyone can make. And we are sharing some pointers to make sure your danishes turn out super flakey every time. And if you don’t eat them all in one sitting, you can freeze the pastries for later. So next time you’re craving a sweet treat, having a friend over for coffee or hosting your own cafe at home, you have something delicious to serve!
Looking for more bakery-style treats? Check out these recipes:
Pecan Pie Cream Cheese Danishes
Recipe Snapshot
- Chill butter in freezer.
- Make pastry dough.
- Let pastry dough rise in fridge for 3 hours or overnight.
- Laminate dough (see tips below).
- Cut pastries and let them rise a second time.
- Fill each danish with cream cheese and bake.
- Make pecan pie filling while danishes are baking.
- Top each danish with pecan pie filling and serve.
How to make perfectly flakey danish dough…
The key to making flakey dough is to use cold butter. We recommend freezing your butter before using in this recipe. Here’s some tips for achieving that super flakey pastry dough.
- Use COLD butter. We recommend freezing butter for at least 10-15 minutes before using. When the butter bakes, it will create steam pockets making those flakey layers.
- Chill the dough to rise. Keeping the dough cold will keep the butter firm in the dough, solidifying those layers.
- Roll the dough out thinly when laminating. Keep reading below on steps for laminating the dough.
- Do not over work the dough. Be gentle with the dough. If your dough is overworked, it will become too tough and those layers may not show.
What does it mean to laminate the dough?
In order to create the beautiful layers in the dough, you have to laminate. Basically it’s a fancy way of saying that the dough has to be folded and rolled over and over again to make the thin layers in the dough. Read the steps for creating a super flakey danish dough below!
How to laminate the dough
There is a certain folding technique we used in this recipe to create those beautiful layers in the danish dough. Follow these steps for creating deliciously flakey dough:
- Scoop out out onto a floured surface.If your dough is too sticky to work with, sprinkle a bit more flour on it.
- Start by rolling out the dough a 9×13 inch rectangle. (For reference, that is just under the size of a sheet of printer paper)
- Fold the dough. First, fold one side into the center and the other over the first piece you folded. Almost like a pamphlet shape.
- Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until its is back into a 9×13 inch rectangle.
- Turn the dough once and fold each side in again. Roll out and turn the dough again.
- Roll and turn the dough 2 more times.
How to make pecan pie filling…
These danishes have two fillings. First they are baked with a cream cheese filling and topped with a pecan pie filling that is already baked. It’s super easy to make in a sauce pan over the oven and tastes just like pecan pie.
- Start by warming butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, egg, spices and chopped pecans in a saucepan over low heat. Make sure your heat is low to start because you don’t want to burn the butter or cook the egg. The egg will be slowly cooked into the mixture as it heats.
- Stir constantly.
- Once the butter and sugar have dissolved, increase the heat to medium-low. The mixture will start to bubble.
- When the filling starts to bubble, drop the temperature back to low. Let it simmer for 8-10 minutes on low.
- Remove from heat and let it cool before topping your danishes.
Can you freeze the baked danishes?
Yes, you can! After the danishes are baked, allow them to cool completely, before packaging them. If they are still warm, condensation can build up in the bag and create a wet environment in the bag and possibly lead to mold.
So once they have cooled completely, store them in a freezer safe bag. They’ll be good for up to 3 months, if they last that long.
How to reheat frozen baked danishes?
We recommend reheating frozen danishes in an oven or a toaster oven to get the desired texture and crispness of the original baked pastry. It will also heat the pastry evenly.
Oven Temp: 350°F
Reheat cook time: 10-12 minutes (until warm all the way through)
Do not use a microwave! They won’t heat evenly and if it’s over heated, the texture can become very tough and not desirable.
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Pecan Pie Cream Cheese Danishes
Description
A buttery flakey danish dough filled with cream cheese filling and topped with pecan pie filling.
Ingredients
Danish Dough
- 12 tbsp butter
- 2 1/3 cup flour
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 packet of yeast
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1/2 cup milk, warm
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp cardamom
Cream cheese filling
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/4 c sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/8 tsp salt
Pecan pie filling
- 2 tbsp, butter melted
- 1/3 tbsp cup maple syrup
- 4 tbsp cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 1 tsp cardamom
Instructions
Make Danish Dough
- In a bowl whisk together flour, sugar, yeast, cardamom and salt.
- In a separate bowl, combine milk, eggs, and vanilla.
- Grate or cube butter. If you grate butter, you may need to pop it in the freezer for about 5 minutes before adding it to you dough. If you cube butter, make sure it is cut into the dough into small pea sized pieces.
- Add in milk mixture and mix to combine until the dough comes together.
- Grease a large bowl and scrape the dough mixture into the bowl. Place in fridge and let it rise for 3-4 hours or overnight.
Laminate the Dough
- Once dough has chilled and risen, scoop it out onto a floured surface. Add more flour if sticky. Roll out into a 9×6 inch rectangle. Fold one side into the center and the other onto of the folded piece (almost like a pamphlet).
- Roll out the dough until its is back into a 9×6 rectangle. Turn the dough once and fold each side in again. Roll out and turn the dough again.
- Roll and turn the dough 2 more times.
Make the Danishes and Rise
- Once the dough has been rolled out 9×6 rectangle again, cut in half length wise and then each long rectangle into 4 even pieces. So you have 16 pieces.
- Place danishes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Let them rise for 1 hour.
Make cream cheese filling and pecan pie filling…
- While rising, make your cream cheese mixture and pecan pie filling.
- For the cream cheese filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together softened cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla in a bowl.
- In a saucepan over low heat add butter, maple syrup, brown sugar, egg, spices and chopped pecans. Stir constantly until butter and sugar dissolve.
- Increase the heat to medium-low and wait for it to start bubbling. Keep stirring.
- Drop temperature back down to low and let it simmer for 8-10 minutes until thick
Bake Danishes
- Once the danishes have risen, preheat oven to 350°F and shaper danishes. Make an indention and flatten the center of each danish, making sure there is a risen border drought the edge.
- Fill each danish with a couple tbsp of cream cheese filling.
- Bake for 16-20 minutes. Top with 1 tbsp pecan pie filling and enjoy with a cup of coffee!
