Homemade Cream Cheese Danish

Instructions

FOR THE DOUGH:

In a small bowl, pour the yeast into the warm milk and stir to combine.

Let sit for 5-10 minutes.

While waiting, combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together.

Add the very cold butter cubes and use your fingers or pastry cutter to cut butter into the dry ingredients. Cut it into the flour until the flour and butter is the size of small peas.

Whisk the egg yolks into the yeast mixture. Once combined, add it all to the flour mixture.

Stir this mixture with a wooden spoon just until it forms a sticky dough.

Once it is mixed, cover it with plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least 2 hours.

After 2 hours, dump the chilled dough onto a floured surface and roll the dough into a large rectangle. The rectangle should be about 10 inches by 15 inches.

Fold the dough in thirds, bringing the right side into the middle and then the left side into the middle to meet.

Roll it out again. Fold and roll 2 more times.

Fold the dough in thirds again and wrap in plastic wrap.

Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes.

(the dough can stay in the fridge for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for up to 1 month)

Preheat oven to 400F.

Cut 1-inch strips that are 15 inches long. You should get about 10 strips.

On a parchment or silicone sheet lined baking sheet, start wrapping the dough into danishes.

To wrap the, press the end of one of the dough strips to the pan. wrap 1-2 inches of the dough around the end and press the dough down to create a flat middle for the filling.

Loosely twist the dough and wrap around the center to create the danish.

*Step by step photos are in the blog post*

Repeat until all are done, place danishes about 1 inch apart on a large baking sheet or 2 smaller baking pans.

Cover them with plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

Making the filling

FOR THE CREAM CHEESE FILLING:

In a bowl with an electric mixer or a stand mixer, combine the softened cream cheese and white sugar. Mix until combined.

Mix in the egg yolk.

Mix in the vanilla extract.

Mix until very smooth.

CONTINUE MAKING THE DANISHES:

Remove the plastic from the dough.

Place a spoonful of filling into the center of each danish.

Cover them with plastic and let rest for 30 minutes.

Remove plastic.

Brush pastry with a bit of egg wash. Bake danishes for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven and let cool completely.

When they come out of the oven, they will be super puffy, both the danish and the cream cheese filling but as they cool they will fall back down like they should be.