You have to try this classic cream cheese danish recipe, It is addictive, delicious, and absolutely amazing!
This is the best cream cheese danish recipe is all about childhood memories. My mom wasn’t an avid cook or baker. But she did cook often and bake when needed. My parents did a lot of entertaining over the years and I remember her working on all of those meals preparing for dinner guests.
But as me and my brother started getting older and our appetites grew along with it, I felt like we were encouraged to fend for ourselves, so to speak. When she wasn’t up to baking or just wanted something sweet we turned to Entenmann’s to satisfy our sweet tooth. One of our special treats was entenmann’s danish.
My brother and I could easily take down a whole entenmann’s raspberry danish (my version here) in a day. If they were out of the raspberry danish we would choose the cream cheese danish. I think everyone has these childhood memories of things their parents would give to them as treats or snacks that have a lasting effect on our urges.
It might not be the healthiest but it sure was delicious. I wanted to recreate that childhood memory with this recipe. This is a basic enriched dough that can be used in all kinds of recipes including cinnamon rolls. Here is the the best cream cheese danish recipe I hope you enjoy it!
Cream Cheese Danish
Enriched Sweet Dough
- 1 cup milk
- 1 stick butter
- 2 whole eggs (room temp)
- 2 tbsp vanilla paste
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 packet yeast
- 3 1/4 cups flour (plus more for dusting)
- 1 tsp salt
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla paste
Icing
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 3 tbsp water (warm)
Streusal topping
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/2 cup almond meal ((can be left out if nut allergy or don't have and use flour only))
- 1 stick butter (cold)
How to make enriched sweet dough (see video below)
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In a glass measuring cup add 1 cup of milk. Place in the microwave to heat up until the internal temperature is around 105 degrees. Add 1 tbsp of sugar and the yeast and mix well.
Allow to activate the yeast for 5 minutes. Then in a stand mixer add the eggs, butter, and vanilla bean paste and mix well. Add the flour and salt and mix until it forms a smooth dough if the dough is a little wet just add additional flour.
Cover and let it rise for about and hour to an hour and a half depending on how warm your room is. Then punch down the dough and cut it in half. This recipe make two large entenmann’s danishes. You could easily make just one with half of the dough and save the dough for another recipe.
From here other recipes similar to this one say the cut the dough into three even strips and then roll them and place them together. I always hated that middle part where it was all dough and no filling. So took my one half of dough and cut two equal portions.
I took a rolling pin an rolled a long strip leaving the edges a little thicker. I also used my hands to make a little well in the middle of the dough. Then, pinch both strips together in the middle. What you are left with should look a little something like this.
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Next you want to fill those wells with as much or as little cream cheese filling (Below) as you would like, using a offset spatula. Fill the dough with cream cheese, leaving about a 1/2 inch around the edges of the dough. I placed my sheet pan upside down and put a piece of parchment paper. Let it rest for a minute while you make the streusel.
To make the cream cheese filling
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In a stand mixer add cream cheese and powdered sugar with a paddle attachement. Mix for 30 seconds until smooth. Add vanilla and egg yolk and mix for another 30 seconds. Then fill the danish with the filling.
How to make streusal topping
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In a bowl add flour, almond meal, sugar, and cold cubed butter. With a fork, press and incorporate the butter into the mixture. Continue the process until all the ingredients begin to clump up. Then take the streusel and place all over the danish.
To finish
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Place the cream cheese danish in a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for about 25 minutes or until light golden brown; making sure to rotate the pan halfway during the baking process . Take out and allow the cool for at least 15 minutes. Meanwhile in a small bowl mix powdered sugar and water with a whisk until well combined. Once cooled, drizzle the icing all over the danish. Serve and
2 comments
Is the filling and strusel topping amount for just half the dough? Do I need to double thoes if I’m making two?
Did I miss something? The recipe called for 1/3 cup sugar. In the directions, to activate the yeast, it calls for 1 TBSP sugar and the yeast added to the cup of milk. Nowhere in the recipe does it say to add the 1/3 cup sugar.
How is the dough “sweet”? What’s the deal?