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.
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Recipe Source: adapted slightly from America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook
Those danishes look amazing- can’t wait to try them! If your blog doesn’t count as a cookbook, then most used paper cookbook I have is my old-school Betty Crocker, circa 1954, I think. My mom gave it to us for a wedding gift, and I use it at couple times a week.
Ive never heard of these cookbooks before. I can’t wait to see if my library has some to check out. My favorite cookbook is the one my family put together. I love having all my family recipes on hand. Because no one can cook like Grandma!
Honestly, I’ve tried so many cookbooks but never had much luck with recipes…I’m domestically challenged (sad but true !! LOL) but I did have the best luck with a couple of recipes I tried from the America’s test kitchen best recipes book.
I would love to win this new quick family cookbook. Quick and easy recipes from America’s test kitchen would actually make me feel successful in the kitchen which is something I rarely feel 🙂 !!!
Thank you for giving me the chance to win this lovely new book Mel 🙂
Karen XO
Americas Test Kitchen has the best cookbooks. Definitely my go to cookbook. I will have to look inti this quick version.
Oh, sorry, my favorite cookbook is one my mother gave me from her church. She’s been gone 25 years now, and I still use that cookbook all the time.
I have always loved my Joy of Cooking cookbook. I also really like Favorites and Keeping Up from the Ivory family, but anymore I usually just turn to my favorite food blogs and pinterest for my inspiration and direction, namely right here! I can’t go wrong with anything from your site!!
I use a family cookbook and the Internet for a lot of recipes. Your site is my first stop! Thanks for the giveaway!
I’ve always wanted to make danish, but I’m still a little scared of dough. This seems just my speed! Anyway, my favorite cookbook is my great grandmothers old Good Housekeeping Cookbook from the 60s. I love it and some of the recipes in there are hilarious. Would anyone like some meat jello? 😉
Cheese danish are one of my weaknesses and now you’ve made my life so much easier. I will have to buy this cookbook (if I don’t win it!)
Being Danish, I feel that I should tell you that pastries in Denmark never ever have cheese in them. I’m not really sure how the American version came to be, but it’s pretty funny to me that they’re called Danishes when I’ve never seen that kind in Denmark. Anyway, I’m sure they are delicious!
My favorite cookbook is a Danish one called “God mad, let at lave” (Good food, easy to make). It is the most amazing basic cookbook that will help you with literally anything from how to boil an egg to how to plan a 5 course fancy dinner. Plus it has great information about nutrition values of different foods, how to store leftovers, etc.
Fannie Farmer!
I rarely miss with “The Joy of Cooking” but love cookbooks. Newest favorite is Ten Dollar Dinners” – frugal yet elegant!
My most used, most loved cookbook is definitely the one I put together with all of my favorite recipes.
I would love to try an ATK cookbook!
Right now, my favorite cookbook is Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt as I am in full-blown canning and preserving season. I also love Cook’s Country! I would love to be able to add this new cookbook to my collection.
My go to cookbooks are Cuisine at Home series they are all fabulous. However I turn more these days to my online recipe box which has everything from my recipes to all the great blog recipes I have found and tried.
Joy of Cooking. I love their pancake recipe.
Otherwise, the internet is one big old cookbook to me 🙂
That’s a tough one…I guess my Taste of Home Baking Book.
The cookbook I use the most is an old church cookbook from the church I grew up in a small town in Nebraska. I’d love to add this to my cookbook collection!
My favorite cookbook is my oldest-The Better Homes and Garden Cookbook I’ve had for 47 years
I love the Barefoot Contessa cookbooks – any of them! 🙂
Ooh that recipe looks so yummy!
As for my tried and true recipe book? That would be my very used & beat up Betty Crocker book. I remember using my mom’s (from the 70’s) when growing up and when I got married she bought me my own (newest edition of course) and that is my go to book.
However, I have lately been loving the Taste of Home series of hardback cookbooks. I’m a bit of a cookbook hoarder? I love seeing new recipes & trying them out. I’m LOVING the dinning downloads website that sends me emails about free cookbooks on amazon.com daily. LOL
I have two that I use the most…Hollyhocks & Radishes: Mrs. Chard’s Almanac (got this one on vacation in Michigan years ago!) and Pasta by Eric Treuille & Anna Del Conte (I am a pasta freak!). Blogs supply so many great recipes now of course. And I love the Cook’s Country magazine! Hope you find a house soon! Thanks for all the great recipes!
It’s actually a BAKING book, but my go-to is Good Housekeeping’s “BAKING.” The binding is broken and the pages are sticky; there are notes on almost every recipe. To me, that’s the mark of a GREAT cookbook!
Well, I have to say that I go online a LOT now when looking for new recipes, but my old standby is the More-with-Less cookbook.
My go-to cookbook is one put together by my church group about 10 years ago. Can’t beat it!
Mine is the Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Definitely my go-to!
My fave cookbook is the king arthur flour baking with whole grains book. I haven’t had any recipe that I didn’t like yet. And they’re whole grains!! I love it.
Betty Crocker
I have an old cookbook put together by our church group (ward) that I have used so much it has fallen to pieces. I still use it but I have to store it in a ziplock bag.
I use Pillsbury Family Cookbook all the time.
The one book I use the most is the one I made for myself adapted from the one my mom gave me for my wedding gift 20 years ago. She took all my favorite recipes and some of her own and put them into a binder for me. Over the years I’ve taken out the recipes I didn’t really like or use that often and replaced them with ones that I’ve come to love over the years. I plan on making a recipe book for my 2 younger daughters in the next year.
Mine would have to be Bittmans How to Cook Everything. It is my go to. But I love reading my 1960’s Fannie Farmer…
The Joy of Cooking
An old favorite of mine is Real Soups.
The cookbook i use most is the one my mother made me for Christmas one year with all her recipes over the years she uses. It’s my favorite!
I don’t use cookbooks nearly often enough. But my grandmother gave me one put out by King Arthurs Flour, and I love the baking recipes in it!
I LOVE ATK, and their Complete TV Show cookbook is our go-to.
I pull out my old, tattered Betty Crocker cookbook when I’m feeling nostalgic and craving meals from my childhood. Nowadays I look mostly online for inspiration.
I am a cookbook fanatic! Love to just sit and read them and those with lots of pictures make me the most happy. My go to all the time for a yummy recipe cookbook is the Complete Cooking Light from 2008. I have made just about every recipe or variation there of from that book!
I love any cookbook from Cook’s Illustrated! They always seem to have amazing recipe and I don’t think I’ve ever made a recipe from them that didn’t turn out.
Joy of Cooking is my go-to cookbook for almost everything. It has seen me through seven years of marriage and never lets me down!
Mel, thanks for the giveaway! Honestly, your website is my go-to cookbook! I cook at least 75% from your recipes and when I need something specific I search for it on your site. Thank you!!
I absolutely love America’s Test Kitchen recipes, and their cookbooks are my most used. In particular, The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook. So, I know I would love to have The America’s Test Kitchen Quick Family Cookbook. Their quick recipes never taste quick.
Sorry mine will not help you very much but my most used/favorite cookbook is my child’s school family favorites. I’m also a big fan of the Betty Crocker monthly little cookbooks! Thanks for the giveaway and hang in there!
I use Dori Greenspan’s Baking: From my home to yours a lot. I also use Baking Illustrated a lot as well.
For years I have relied on cookbooks compiled by our church ladies and they have never failed me. I also use my collection of family recipes handed down through generations of great cooks. But, showing the “change of times”, I have more and more loved going to food blogs on the internet, like Mel’s Kitchen Cafe! Love it!
For the past year, the cookbook i’ve used often is The Steamy Kitchen cookbook.
i love to collect cookbooks…but don’t use them very often! magazines are so full of great recipes….when i do use a cookbook the first thing that comes to mind is the peanut butter cookies in my better homes and gardens cookbook…yum….
I would have to say that my favorite cookbook (currently) is Cook’s Illustrated. I picked it up after your suggestion and have been cooking/baking from it ever since! America’s Test Kitchen’s Quick Cookbook would be really beneficial during weeknights with two boys playing multiple sports/groups/clubs! Good luck on house hunting!