Easy Lemon Cream Cheese Danish

I don’t know about you, but I could definitely go for a little sweet treat… for breakfast!

A cheese danish is my favorite pastry of all time, but a lot of the time, my patience for making my own dough (especially in the morning), is nonexistent.

Here’s where the store-bought puff pastry comes into play!  I love to grab a box when I’m at the store and keep it on hand in my freezer.  It thaws relatively quickly, so I can just toss it in the refrigerator the night before.

You’ll love how easy this is to put together (and customize!), and one bite of the perfectly flaky crust and sweet creamy center, and you’ll be in heaven!

I’ve kept the lemon flavor present, but not crazy over the top, so there’s plenty of options when it comes to other flavors to add.

How to make lemon cream cheese danish at home?

This is just an overview; the full ingredients and directions are in the recipe card toward the bottom of this post.

1. Make the filling. The trick here is to make sure the cream cheese is softened, otherwise you won’t be able to have a smooth creamy filling.
2. Prepare the dough. Use a sharp knife here, or a pizza cutter.
3. Fill the center. Try to leave a small border between the filling and the dough strips.
4. Cross the strips. Start on the left, folding the strip over the filling, coming a little more than halfway across the filling. Repeat with the right strip, and continue on down the dough.
5. Egg wash. This helps the dough bake to a beautiful golden brown color.
6. Bake. After the pastry is baked, cool, then drizzle with glaze and serve.

Variations of this recipe

• Less lemon – if you’re not a huge lemon fan, feel free to omit the lemon zest.
• More lemon – conversely, if you’re a lemon lover, feel free to use more lemon zest, and/or add some lemon zest as a garnish on top of the glaze.
• Almond – to accentuate the almond flavor, try adding some sliced almonds over top of the cream cheese mixture, and/or on top of the glaze.
• Berries – try dotting some blueberries, raspberries, etc over the top of the cream cheese mixture.
• Jam – some jam or preserves can be swirled into the cream cheese mixture (raspberry, strawberry, etc).
• Individual danishes – you can also make the individual square danishes you may be used to seeing at bakeries and coffee shops. See the “chef tips” section below the recipe for the full details.

Making cream cheese danish ahead of time

This shortcut danish is great to assemble ahead of time! I don’t recommend baking it entirely ahead of time, but it can definitely be prepped and assembled.

• Filling – the filling can be whipped up and kept refrigerated until ready to use.
• Assembled – the entire danish can be put together and covered tightly with plastic wrap, then refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Storage

Leftover danish should be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

To reheat, add a slice of the danish to the microwave for about 10 seconds to warm.