Simple Cheese Danish
These simple homemade cheese danishes are so easy, so elegant and so delicious. You’ve gotta try them right now!
I feel like I’ve been harping on quick, simple recipes and meals lately. Sorry if that offends your gourmet spirit.
I promise that fast food (I’m talking fast food like homecooked fast food, not fast food like dollar menu fast food) can taste delicious even if it is simple and quick to prepare.
Because of my latest fetish with easy recipes, I was thrilled beyond thrilled when out of the blue, America’s Test Kitchen sent me their newest cookbook, The Quick Family Cookbook, because the food in here is seriously talking my language.
No-fail is the word that comes to mind with ATK’s tested, tested, tested recipes and the wonder of this cookbook is that you get classically delicious America’s Test Kitchen recipes with minimal fuss, time and ingredients. Oh, I am in love with this book.
To show how great this book is, I should have made some stellar main course fare that will save your bacon on any given Tuesday night; however, I couldn’t resist these delicious cheese Danish pastries.
They are so easy, so elegant and so delicious, if you close your eyes while eating one, you might just believe you are smack dab on the bustling streets of Paris – oh wait, think of some city in Denmark! – eating an authentic pastry.
Not that I ever have had that experience, but take my word for it – these babies get the job done for a no-fuss pastry. Make them and love them.
Simple Cheese Danish
Ingredients
- 8 ounces cream cheese, light or regular, softened to room temperature
- 4 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoons grated lemon zest
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (9 1/2 by 9-inch)
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten with 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla. Set aside.
- Roll the pastry into a 12 by 9-inch rectangle on a lightly floured counter, making sure it doesn’t stick to the counter while rolling. Cut the rectangle into six 4 1/2 by 4-inch rectangles (cut it in half the long way and then cut each strip into thirds). Transfer the pastry rectangles to the baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart. Using the tip of a paring knife, score a 1/2-inch border around the edge of each pastry, then brush the borders with the egg wash (no fear – if you don’t have a pastry brush, using your fingers works just as well!). Prick the pastry with a fork every 1 inch or so within the border (see the picture below for a visual). Place a generous 2-3 tablespoons of filling in the center of each pastry and spread it into an even layer leaving the border uncovered.
- Bake the pastries until fully puffed and golden about 12-14 minutes (watching carefully so they don’t overbrown). Serve the pastries warm or at room temperature.
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: adapted slightly from America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook
I’d have to say ATK’s The Best New Recipes. I wish I had found it YEARS ago!
Easily, the most used cookbook in my house is an old family cookbook with all my grandma’s recipes. The thing has food stains everywhere and is absolutely disgusting to look at. But I love it! Next to that, my favorite cookbook is The Joy of Cooking. It never fails to enlighten me when I’m confused about something.
Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything. It seriously lives up to it’s name. I’ve always got my nose buried in that one!
I have a cookbook called Fix it Fast family favorites from Betty Crocker that I use quite a bit. That and my Taste of Home cookbooks probably get used the most.
You know, I actually use Allrecipes.com more than anything. It’s a huge amazing resource for me!
Better Homes and Gardens
Betty Crocker for old stand-bys, but mostly use the internet for new recipes.
I have a family cookbook that I use probably more than any other. But I would love to try this one.
I’m so excited about this newest ATK cookbook. The other three of the collection are completely dog-eared and covered in various colored food splatters. If I had to pick my favorite of the three I’d say the original family cookbook was my favorite.
The New Best Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated is our bible for cooking around here. It is tagged with comments from my daughters who also have used it for years. Just got the ATK Healthy at Costco and am looking forward to using it.
Dorie Greenspan’s Baking from My Home to Yours….it’s wonderful.
My favorite cookbook is an old spiral bound book made by ladies of the church I grew up in. Many of the ladies who contributed to the book are not around any longer, but I love how their recipes still live on!
That danish looks so YUMMY!
We use Betty Crocker for so much, we also have a local cookbook that has provided some great recipes!
I love my taste of home cookbooks, but lately I’ve been using just your blog! I also love the Three Rivers Cookbooks. Pittsburgh thing.
I’m an ATK fan also. I’ve also discovered Jeni’s Splendid Homemade Ice Creams At Home and love her ice cream recipes.
I love ATK too, but when I need a good recipe, I usually come here- to your blog! And I promise I’m not brown-nosing- it’s really the truth. Your recipes are just as fool-proof and yummy as in my ATK cookbook! So thank you!!
I must admit that my most used cookbook is my own. I compiled all of my favorite recipes into a cookbook a few years ago and continue to add to it.
My favorite recipe book is the Lion House Cookbook. My favorite thing to eat in there is Sarah’s salad (the only time I ever eat peas), and of course the world famous rolls 🙂
My go-to book for a great one-dish dinner, either for the family or company, is “Quiches, Pies, and Tarts” by Hermes House. I’ve found that anything produced by Hermes House is quality (and no, they’re not paying me to say that!).
I actually have a pile of pages in my cupboard with my tried and true recipes (very unorganized!). If there is a recipe I want to try, I search on your blog and online til I find one that looks like something I can do. If I find one my family enjoys I print it out and it gets added to my pile.
America’s Test Kitchen – Healthy! I love how they give tips and tricks.
My favorite recipe book is the one my Grandma made for me the year I got married. It had all her favorites and mine as well in it and we have added to it over the years, including some new favorites from your site.
Wow.. gorgeous cheese danish!
Favorite cookbook has to be SaraBeth’s Bakery From My Hands To Yours. It’s written exceptionally well and detailed enough for even the novice baker in the kitchen.
I actually wrote a great review on this book here: http://www.thekitchenwhisperer.net/2012/04/07/sarabeths-bakery-from-my-hands-to-yours/
My go to is a church cookbook from 1996…it’s got a great variety of recipes!
Hey Mel…you sure got a lot of replies! Thank you for sharing this great recipe! I have to say that my favourite go-to cookbook is a VERY old (as in vintage now) copy of Purity Flour’s Cookbook from the 1970’s. Everything I’ve ever made from it has always turned out well. It’s the book I teethed on as a young wife and new cook. I sort of ‘stole’ my mom’s copy and its in tatters now so I have to buy me one on Amazon Thank God they’ve still got some available!
I actually have made my own cookbook with an assortment of tried and true recipes that I have collected over the years from various resources! I love it, because I know every recipe in there will turn out!!!
Barefoot Contessa Family Style, but really all of her wonderful cookbooks.
Rarely do I try to win giveaways, but thought I’d comment because I love cookbooks and will probably run out and buy this one when I get a chance to get to the store 🙂 but I’m for saving a few $ when I can!! My go to cookbook is your blog! but actual hold in my hand go to cookbook right now is The Food Nanny. because I fully support “bringing dinner back to the table”:)
Ok, LITERALLY last night, after making and scarfing down the Best Broccoli Beef recipe, I thought to myself, “I really should just get an America’s Test Kitchen cookbook, cuz those are all the best ones…” Please let this be fate! hahaha 🙂 Thanks for the giveaway! Hope I win!!!
For company, I use my Williams-Sonoma cookbooks; for basic cooking, I use the Betty Crocker cookbook I gave to my husband when we were first dating 35 years ago; for classic cooking, I use my Joy of Cooking; but my most tattered and used and loved is my Sunset Favorite Recipes cookbook.
my all time favorite cookbook is an old ward cookbook that my mom gave me when I first got married 10 years ago.
My favorite would have to be my Nieman Marcus cookbook.
I have to say I’ve quit using cookbooks and just come to your blog when I need a new recipe. I think you are better than America’s Test Kitchen 🙂 But if I have to choose a cookbook, I do like the America’s Test Kitchen Crockpot Cookbook.
The cook book we use the most in our family is a book put together by one of my great aunts of family recipes she had collected over the years. I think our fudge recipe is the one that gets used the most around the holidays!
my favorite cookbook is probably my real simple cookbook. lots of easy meals!
Betty Crocker. I pull it out a couple times a week.
Aside from the internet, for recipes I turn to Kitchen Thyme which is a book my cousin compiled of tons of family favorites.
I realized a couple years ago that I didn’t have a classic go-to cookbook with a little bit of everything. Growing up, I always used my mom’s BC book. So my mom got me the BHG cookbook for my birthday – love it!
I have a cookbook my mother in law made me that I use all the time!
I love America’s Test Kitchen and would love this book. My go to cookbook these days is actually my Cooks Country magazine. Love them!
My all time favorite is the one I got when I first got married-“Better Homes New Cook Book.” I also love all of my neighborhood school cookbooks and church cookbooks. I love to see what people eat at home and how cooking has changed since they were published. But I find most of my recipes now on your website or on Pinterest. Of course I LOVE watching cooking shows on PBS too!
My most loved cookbook is JOY OF COOKING.
I LOVE America’s Test Kitchen! I don’t really have any cookbooks (I find most of my recipes online), but I am definitely planning on getting the Smitten Kitchen cookbook!
I’d love to find some great cookbooks. I normally use the internet to find 99% of my recipes. Your blog have become a staple since finding you this summer! I’d love to use some of your own source books 🙂
I mostly use my own created cook book which is a binder of my tried and trues (mostly from your blog;) but if I had to say I had one other staple it would be my “Better Homes and Gardens” cookbook I have had since I got married ten years ago.
I love cookbooks, and use so many of them. My most worn out one is Southern Living Best One -Dish Meals.
Wow – Pinterest is my go-to cookbook right now, to be honest. I always have at least my iPhone with me, so I can plan on the go.
I would have to say it is my family cookbook that the ladies in my husband’s family put together. PS I made your pineapple meatballs the other day……YUM!!!!
I have made a cookbook of Mel’s Kitchen Cafe recipes that our family enjoys or I think they’ll enjoy. Just print off the recipes I think we’ll like. I also use the Joy of Cooking I received for my wedding, twenty-four years ago.
Honestly, the recipes that end up on our table most often come from your site. Beyond that, the ones I pull out the most are King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion, Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys (Lucinda Scala Quinn), and a small one called Comfortably Yum by Luisa Perkins (who is a friend of a friend). Guess I was never good at picking just one favorite!