My Danish Kitchen

Easy Cheese Danish

I saw Ina make these cheese Danish on Barefoot Contessa. They are easy, quick and very delicious. What’s not to like? They are wonderful served warm as well as the following day at room temperature. After the pastries are filled and folded, Ina tells you to refrigerate the pastries for 15 minutes before baking…which I failed to do. 😦 So the first four pastries I baked opened up during baking, not a pretty site (still tasted fantastic though). The next four I put in the refrigerator, as instructed, and these pastries stayed folded after baking. So I can only guess that the refrigeration of the pastries is an important step to keep the folded pastries closed during baking. I’ll remember this for next time 🙂

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry (1 box)

8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature

2 tbsp ricotta cheese

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp kosher salt

zest from 1 small lemon

1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line two baking pans with parchment paper.

Mix together cream cheese and sugar with an electrical mixer on low-speed. With the mixer still on low, add egg yolks, ricotta cheese, vanilla, salt and lemon zest, mix just until smooth. Place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured surface. If needed, roll it to a 10 x 10 inch square. Cut pastry into 4 smaller squares. Brush borders of each square with egg wash and then place a heaping tablespoon of cream cheese filling in the centers. Fold one corner gently over the filling, brush this corner with egg wash. Fold the opposing second corner over the first corner allowing the egg wash to seal the two corners together. Finish brushing the top of pastry with egg wash. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry. Makes a total of 8 pastries.

Using a spatula, place pastries on baking pans and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Then bake pastries for about 20 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!

Cheese Danish

Source: Barefoot Contessa