Bakery Style Cream Cheese Danishes

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A bakery classic…Cream Cheese Danishes. There is something so soul-warming about a danish pastry. They seem to always have the perfect balance of a flakey crust and filling.

These bakery style cream cheese danishes will transport you to one of your favorite bakeries. A buttery, flakey yeast bread filled with a sweet cream cheese filling and topped with spiced streusel makes a delicious bite for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

I know, pastries can seem intimidating, but good news!! You don’t have to have a lot of kitchen skills to make our cream cheese danishes!! Our recipe is not super technical as others, making it super easy to make without compromising the quality and flavor that you love so much.

Bakery Style Cream Cheese Danishes

What You’ll Need

Butter: Lots of butter is used to make the dough super flakey and delicious!!

Flour: Nothing fancy here, all purpose flour is perfect for making this dough!

Sugar: Sugar is needed to add sweetness and softness to the dough. Sugar is also used to make cream cheese filling and streusel topping.

Yeast: Essential for making the dough rise!! Our favorite active dry yeast to use is Fleischmann’s.

Milk: Adds moisture to the pastry dough.

Salt: A bit of salt helps to enhance the flavors in the dough.

Vanilla: It never hurts to add a bit of vanilla for extra flavor. We added it to the dough and the cream cheese filling.

Cardamom: Cardamom adds a delicious earthy and citrusy flavor to the dough. We love adding it in pastries. 

Cream Cheese: Used to make the delicious tangy, sweet filling in the danishes. 

Recipe Snapshot

1. Make Dough. Whisk dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls, grate butter and toss in flour mixture. Lastly mix in wet ingredient mixture. 
2. Chill dough for minimum of 3 hours. 
3. Laminate dough. Roll out chilled dough onto floured surface. Fold and roll several times to create the flakey layers. 
4. Final rise for 1 hour.
5. Make cream cheese filling and streusel.
6. Form pastries, fill with filling and top with streusel.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden. Enjoy!

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:

1. Scoop out out onto a floured surface. If your dough is too sticky to work with, sprinkle a bit more flour on it. 
2. 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)
3. Fold the dough. First, fold one side into the center and the other over the first piece you folded. Almost like a pamphlet shape.
4. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until its is back into a 9×13 inch rectangle.
5. Turn the dough once and fold each side in again. Roll out and turn the dough again. 
6. Roll and turn the dough 2 more times. 

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.

Bakery Style Cream Cheese Danishes

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• Author: Mozie
• Total Time: 4 hours 35 minutes
• Yield: 16 1x

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Description

A buttery, flakey yeast bread filled with a sweet cream cheese filling and topped with spiced streusel.

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Ingredients

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Danish Dough

12 tbsp butter (2 at room temperature)

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 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

Spice Streusel 

1/3 cup flour

1/4 cup sugar

3 tbsp butter, melted

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cardamom

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Instructions

Make Dough

1. In a bowl whisk together flour, sugar, yeast, cardamom and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, combine milk, eggs, and vanilla. 
3. 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. 
4. Add in milk mixture and mix to combine until the dough comes together.
5. 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

1. 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). 
2. 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. 
3. Roll and turn the dough 2 more times. 

Make the Danishes and Rise

1. 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. 
2. Place danishes on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and cover with a towel. Let them rise for 1 hour.

Make the cream cheese and streusel mixture

1. While rising, make your cream cheese mixture and streusel. For the cream cheese, mix cream cheese, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla. 
2. In a separate small bowl, add flour, sugar, salt, cardamom and butter and mix together until combined and crumb- like.

Bake Danishes

1. 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. 
2. Fill each danish with a couple tbsp of cream cheese mixture and sprinkle with streusel. 
3. Bake for 16-20 minutes. Let cool for about 5-10 minutes and enjoy with a cup of coffee!

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Rise Time: 4 hours
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Category: breakfast
• Method: baking