Description
These homemade Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish taste like expensive bakery pastries but cost almost nothing to make and only take 30 minutes from start to finish.
Ingredients
For the Danish:
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry (thawed but still cold)
- 8 oz cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (plus an extra ½ tbsp, divided)
- 1½ tsp vanilla extract (divided)
- 2 cups fresh strawberries, sliced not too thin
- ½ tbsp cornstarch
- 1 large egg
- 2 tsp water
For the Glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 tbsp milk (whole milk works best)
Instructions
Turn your oven to 400°F. This high heat is what makes the pastry puff up properly and get that golden brown color that makes people think you know what you’re doing.
Beat the cream cheese with ¼ cup sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat it really good until it’s completely smooth – should take about 2-3 minutes by hand or less if you have a mixer. Any lumps will taste weird and people will notice them.
Slice your strawberries and toss them gently with ½ tablespoon sugar and the cornstarch. Don’t mash them up or cut them too thin or they’ll fall apart. Just slice them thick enough to hold their shape.
Roll out your puff pastry on a floured surface and cut it into 8 rectangles. I cut it in half the long way first, then cut each half into 4 pieces. Here’s the important part – score lines about ½ inch from all the edges but don’t cut all the way through the pastry. Just mark it. This makes those borders that puff up and look professional.
Put about 2 big spoonfuls of cream cheese mixture right in the middle of each pastry piece, staying inside those scored lines you made. Then add a generous spoonful of the strawberry mixture on top. Don’t go crazy with the filling or it’ll spill out everywhere and burn on your pan. I learned this the hard way.
Mix the egg with 2 teaspoons of water until it’s well combined. Use a pastry brush or your fingers to brush just the edges of each pastry piece. This is what makes them turn golden brown and shiny instead of looking pale and sad.
Put them on a parchment-lined baking sheet with some space between each one. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the edges are puffed up and golden brown. The filling should look set but not overcooked. Don’t open the oven door too much or they might deflate.
Let them cool for exactly 5 minutes – any longer and the glaze won’t stick right, any shorter and it’ll just melt off. Mix the powdered sugar with the remaining ½ teaspoon vanilla and milk until smooth. Drizzle this over the warm danishes and serve them right away.
Notes
Keep everything cold and work quickly – that’s the secret to good puff pastry. The butter layers need to stay separate to create all that flakiness. If your kitchen runs really hot, stick the assembled danishes in the fridge for 10 minutes before baking.
Don’t stress if your danishes aren’t perfect rectangles or if some filling leaks out. Mine are never perfect and they still taste incredible. The rustic look is fine as long as you get those scored edges right so they puff up.
If your puff pastry tears while you’re working with it, just pinch it back together. It’ll still bake fine. These are supposed to be homemade, not perfect.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 15-20 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: European-inspired, American bakery style