This delicious homemade Blackberry Cheese Danish is worth every minute of effort it takes to prepare!
A few weeks ago when Jen and Julie announced this month’s secret ingredient for Get Your Chef On I was a bit thrown, I mean I don’t eat a lot of blackberries. But I thought it was the perfect excuse to try my hand at making Danish, something I have been putting off for months, mostly because it seemed daunting. Enter Joe Pastry, have you seen his site? I discovered him a few months ago when I was craving Strudel, which of course I talked myself out of, but let me tell you, he is amazing! Not only is he totally knowledgable about all things baking, he has some really awesome photo tutorials on how to make some of the most complex goodies.
When I grow up I want to be able to make pastry that looks as good as his. A quick search of his index and I knew I wanted to make a variation of his Cheese Danish. I love Cheese Danish, which admittedly is a bit odd since I dislike cream cheese! That’s right this girl isn’t a fan of it on my bagels, in dips or even as cheesecake. But for some reason I love it in Danish, I think it must be the flaky dough or something? I picked up a jar of seedless Blackberry Jam at the store the other day, they didn’t have fresh Blackberries and set out to conquer my fears.
Danish making in Florida during the summer may not have been my best idea, Joe explains all about the temperature of butter and how to laminate dough, but it turned out delicious. If you’re feeling up to the challenge and love Danish I highly recommend giving this recipe a try, it’s not too difficult, but it does require some time and patience. The resulting flaky, sweet pastry makes it all worth while; enjoy and happy baking!
Blackberry Cheese Danish
Prep
Cook
Total
Yield 6 Danish
Ingredients
for the dough:
- 1/3 c milk
- 1 Tbs sugar
- 3/4 tsp instant yeast
- 1 1/4 c flour
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 stick butter
- 2 Tbs flour, use more or less depending on the temperature of your climate
for the filling:
- 4 oz cream cheese, I used Neufchatel
- 1 egg yolk, keep the white for a wash
- 2 Tbs sugar
- 1/2 tsp lemon juice
- 6 Tbs blackberry jam, I used Smucker's Simply Fruit
for the glaze:
- 6 tsp powdered sugar
- 3 tsp jam
- 2 tsp lemon juice
Instructions
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook combine the dough ingredients and mix for 5 minutes, the dough will be sticky.
- Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and let bloom for 30 minutes at room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours.
- Place the butter in the center of a sheet of plastic wrap sprinkle on the flour, flip and sprinkle flour on the other side as well.
- Cover the butter with another sheet of plastic wrap and begin pounding the butter with your rolling pin, you want a thin "playdough textured" sheet of butter.
- On a well floured surface turn the dough out and flour the top as well, roll the dough out to a large rectangle, place the butter slab in the middle and fold the edges of the dough around it like an envelope.
- Make an "X" in the center of the dough and roll it out, this will take a little strength.
- Once the dough is 1/4" thick fold it into three letter style and rotate the dough and roll it out once more. Fold it again into three and place it in plastic wrap and refrigerate 15-20 minutes, to keep the butter from becoming too soft.
- Repeat the rolling out of the dough again and fold and roll, refrigerate again for 15-20 minutes. Roll the dough out once more and cut into six squares.
- In the center of each square of dough place 1 Tbs of cheese mixture and 1 Tbs of jam, fold the two opposite edges towards one another into the center, like an envelope and then the other two, placing a dab of cheese mixture to seal it shut.
- Beat the remaining egg white well with a tsp of water and brush it over the top of the pastry.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes; until golden brown.
- Remove carefully from the oven and cool completely.
- In a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, jam and lemon juice, stir until smooth; drizzle over the Danish and serve.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Cheese Danish by Joe Pastry
Courses breakfast, dessert, pastry
Mmmm just saw this on Two Cup Tuesday. I love a good Danish with a cup of coffee in the morning. It’s a rare treat that I haven’t enjoyed in quite some time. Book marking this one!
Toodles,
Tammy<3
Thanks for stopping by, I hope you’ll try them!
Alright…my boys would DIG these! YUM girl! Thank you so much for always cooking in the kitchen with us!
Yay! Thanks for a fun challenge, this one took some extra effort, but man was it worth it!
Emily, this looks yummy! Pinning!
Thanks Cindy!
danish is one of my favorite sweet treats in the morning. these are gorgeous
Thanks for linking up at TGIF! I can’t believe you don’t like cream cheese but I’m glad you like it enough to post this awesome recipe. Looks SO good!
What a great idea! I would love one tomorrow morning with my coffee… have a good night – pinned!
Visiting from the blackberry challenge. Yum! I love cream cheese so this is right up my alley.
mmm this looks delightful! pinned and now also following you via GFC
I would love you to share these on my link party Serenity Saturday
Natasha @ Serenity You
Oh yum- my hubs will love these. I think I will make them today. Thanks!
Gina they are so delicious, I hope he loves them!
Oh my GOODNESS! These look like the perfect treat on a Sunday morning!
I found you on the Best of the Weekend link party!