Easy Blueberry, Cream Cheese, and Almond Danish
Using prepared puff pastry dough, these Blueberry, Cream Cheese, and Almond Danish are super easy to prepare and a delicious breakfast treat.
Pastries are not something I typically make; they are more likely a spur of the moment decision when walking past a bakery case and spying a favorite so buying them is more my thing. In my case that would be a cheese danish; always. So why this Blueberry, Cream Cheese, and Almond Danish?
Well I often consider other choices but given the options it’s the one that I want. I sort of covet cherry or blueberry or almond but cheese always wins.
So the day I decided to try making some on my own I thought it would be fun to combine all those flavors and these Blueberry, Cream Cheese, and Almond Danish were the end result. Easy to boot!
I happened to have had this idea on a Saturday afternoon with friends coming for coffee the next morning so a yeast dough and it’s lengthier time requirement was out and this one using a refrigerated puff pastry dough was perfect.
I can not take credit for creating this idea; no, that goes to my bestie Ina Garten (so what if she doesn’t know?). I used her Cheese Danish recipe as a starting point and simply added some ingredients for my version and the rest is history.
How were they? Seriously everything I could have hoped for. The sweet ricotta cheese filling with just enough blueberries and almonds to complement it was over the top delicious. Ina also did not include an almond glaze and I need to have a word with her; it was perfect.
The real beauty of these babies is the Puff pasty; makes the work easy and the light crispy pastry is just perfect with the rich, fruity, crunching filling. Oh my word good!
You can fold the dough in any number of ways but this is what I did and I loved the unique look. Still if you want to go quick and dirty, just fold two opposite ends and have them meet in the center, overlapping just a bit. Slightly wet the edges where they overlap and pinch together. Easy peasy!
The only problem with making my own batch of eight of these Blueberry, Cheese and Almond Danish? I bet I couldn’t eat just one and I was right…HELP!
PIN IT! ‘Blueberry, Cream Cheese, and Almond Danish’
Easy Blueberry, Cheese, and Almond Danish
Ingredients
- 2 sheets 1 box frozen puff pastry, defrosted
For the Filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 2 extra-large egg yolks at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest 2 lemons
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup blueberries
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
- 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water for egg wash
For the Drizzle:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 Tbsp butter softened
- ½ tsp almond extract
- 1 Tbsp milk or half and half Add more if necessary for desired consistency
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's a 10 by 10-inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife. See notes on how to cut each square and fold it; place pastries on the parchment paper.
- Repeat with the second sheet of pastry dough.
- Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth. With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, ricotta, vanilla, lemon juice, lemon zest and salt and mix until just combined. Don't whip!
- Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 8 squares. Top with a Tbsp of berries and a tsp of almonds.
- Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash.and refrigerate the pan of filled pastries for 15 minutes.
- Put the pastries in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown.
For the Frosting:
- Whisk together the half and half, powdered sugar and almond extract Drizzle over the warm, baked pastries. Allow to cool slightly and serve warm
Thanks for sharing! Do they keep long?
They keep a couple of days, if you can keep them around that long!
This looks so good! What a fun recipe to make for weekend brunch!
Hi, quick question on the frosting. You have soften butter in the ingredients, but you don’t show it in the actual recipe. Am I suppose you whip it with the powdered sugar milk and extract. Thank you
My 1st thought was that I had forgotten to include it in the instructions but honestly in looking at it I think it’s an unnecessary ingredient. You want that combination of powdered sugar and milk to be thin enough to drizzle and I do things like that a lot without any butter in them, that would be more for a frosting. So I’m going to eliminate it from the ingredients list and I thank you for letting me know that!
How long could I refrigerate these prior to baking, a few hours? Maybe overnight?
Thanks
So sorry for the delayed response…I twisted my ankle so bad I’ve been laid up for the past couple of days! But yes I think you should be able to prepare and cover and refrigerate overnight. I haven’t done it but can’t see why that would not work. I would take out of the fridge and let come to room temp before baking, that’s my only caveat. Let me know if it works!
I made thes danishes and everyone loved them. So easy and quick. I’ll definitely make them again. I just had one question about the folding. You refer to a photo that shows the folding method but I do not see it.
I do have a photo with steps to produce the way I did it Joyce and have no idea why it has disappeared! I’ll get it back into the post asap.
Yummy Blue berry Danish it looks soo good
i want to try this Thank you for recipe
i will come again and again for more
Bored wiki
I think these are delightful enough to make Julia Childs smile
Made them today and they look so good. Thank you for a quick and easy dessert
Thank you Margaret! I have so many recipes I’ve made over the years and posted here on the blog that I love it when a reader makes something and reminds ME how much I loved a recipe too…and that I need to make it again!
These sound delicious! What a great combination! 🙂 I should really make pastries more often!
Mmmmmm I love Danish, especially with a ricotta filling and fruit! Boy, I never thought to make them at home, I always assumed I have to wait to be in the States. I love this recipe!
No waiting required…this was so easy. Plus I just got a lead on an all butter puff pastry at a local store. I seriously doubt I would ever make my own or at least not until I have nothing else in this entire world to do. Not quite there yet. 🙂
Yup, when it comes to Danish, cheese is what I always crave, too. Oh, if there’s an assortment I’ll try some of the others too, just to be polite, you know. 😉 But I’ll want seconds on the cheese. Love easy, tasty recipes like this. Thanks!
This was so easy…just did some last weekend with cheese and bing cherries. I HAVE to have company coming over. Because I just don’t have the necessary willpower when it comes to this combination to stop at one!
Can you freeze? b4 bak8ng
Sandy I’ve never done that so my advice is only from a perspective of ‘I think’ so. Would you thaw before baking? Factor in more time if that’s not the case but I honestly think you can. I get products with cream cheese fillings from the local scouts and they are frozen and bake up nicely.