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Home » Recipes » Breakfast Recipes

Easy Danish Recipe

Updated: Sep 27, 2023 by Mindee · This post may contain affiliate links · 3 Comments

Have you ever wanted to make those cute little Danish pastries from scratch? This recipe can make mascarpone or cream cheese danishes, cherry Danish, lemon Danish, or any fruit-filled Danish you would like! Best of all, even the Danish dough is homemade and easy!

Cheese danish, lemon danish and cherry danish on a plate.
Easy Danish for a sweet breakfast!

Why You'll Love This Recipe

  • This easy recipe has a light, soft Danish dough made from scratch that's not puff pastry or crescent rolls!
  • The cheese danishes are made with mascarpone which gives a more mellow flavor than a cream cheese filling!
  • These make the perfect breakfast pastries for Christmas morning or Easter brunch!

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

  • Flour - All-purpose flour, not pastry flour, and never self-rising flour.
  • Butter - You may use either unsalted butter or salted butter for this recipe.
  • Mascarpone - You may substitute cream cheese for the mascarpone for a cream cheese pastry filling.
  • Yeast - Active dry yeast, instant yeast, and rapid-rise yeast are all the same thing.
  • Almond Extract - You may use vanilla extract instead if you prefer.
  • Alternative Pastry Fillings - You can fill these danishes with any flavor of fruit pie filling you would like. Cherry, lemon, apple, blueberry....any kind you want!
Everything you need to make this danish pastry recipe!
Everything you need to make this Danish pastry recipe!

How to Make

  • In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and ½ Tbs. of sugar in the warm water. 
  • Let that get foamy while you do the next couple of steps.
  • In a large bowl, whisk 2 cups flour, 1 ½ Tbs. Sugar and salt together. 
  • Cut in the slightly softened butter with a pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly, with small pieces of butter throughout.
Active yeast and mix the dry ingredients together!
Active yeast and mix the dry ingredients together!
  • Pour the yeast mixture, egg yolks, and slightly warmed milk into the flour mixture. 
  • Mix well and add up to a ½ cup more flour to form a pastry dough that's quite a sticky dough. Isn't going to be like bread dough.
  • Cover with a dish towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.  This is a slow-rising dough.  Rising until doubled took an hour and a half for me.
Related Recipe:  15 Pancake Syrups That Will Take Your Breakfast to the Next Level
Add the wet ingredients to finish the dough.
Add the wet ingredients to finish the dough.
  • While the pastry dough is rising, mix together the mascarpone filling.
  • In a small mixing bowl, beat the mascarpone egg yolk, almond extract, sugar, and flour together.
Beat the cheese danish filling ingredients together!
Beat the cheese Danish filling ingredients together!
  • Dump the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
  • With a rolling pin, roll the dough out to just a little more than ¼ inch thick.
  • Using a 2 ½-inch biscuit cutter, cut the Danish pastry dough out into 2 ½-inch circles. 
  • Place up to 12 circles on a baking sheet or cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 
  • Cover and let double.  This takes 45 minutes to an hour.
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  • Press the centers of the raised circles down using a tablespoon or the back of a ⅛ cup measuring cup. 
  • Place a small spoonful (between ½ and 1 tablespoon) of filling in the center of the dough circles. 
  • Top the mascarpone filling with sliced almonds. 
  • Bake the danishes at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes. 
  • The bottoms will be golden brown. 
  • Cool on the baking sheets.
  • Whisk the powdered sugar, a teaspoon of almond extract, and milk together for the almond icing glaze.
  • Drizzle glaze over the top of the pastries.
Roll out, cut out, rise and fill the danish circles.
Roll out, cut out, rise, and fill the Danish circles.

FAQs and Expert Tips

Is Danish the same as puff pastry?

Not quite, but they are very similar. Puff pastry is typically very flaky due to it's many layers.  This recipe is more of an American-style Danish rather than a Classic Danish.  

Do these Danish freeze well?

Yes, they do!  Just make sure they are completely cool before wrapping them up and popping them in the freezer.

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Easy Danish pastries.

Easy Danish Recipe

Mindee
Have you ever wanted to make those cute little Danish pastries from scratch? This recipe can make mascarpone or cream cheese danishes, cherry Danish, lemon Danish, or any fruit-filled Danish you would like! Best of all, even the Danish dough is homemade and easy!
5 from 1 vote
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 3 hours hrs
Cook Time 15 minutes mins
Total Time 3 hours hrs 15 minutes mins
Course Breakfast
Cuisine American
Servings 22 serving
Calories 200 kcal

Ingredients
  

Danish Dough

  • 2 ¼ teaspoon Active Dry Yeast or 1 package
  • ½ Tbs. Sugar
  • ¼ Cup Warm Water
  • 2 ½ Cups Flour
  • 1 ½ Tbs. Sugar
  • ½ teaspoon Salt
  • 6 Tbs Butter slightly softened
  • 2 Egg Yolks
  • ½ Cup Milk slightly warmed

Mascarpone Filling

  • 8 oz. Mascarpone Cheese softened
  • ¼ Cup Sugar
  • 2 teaspoon Almond Extract
  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 4 Tbs. Flour
  • 1 ½ cups Almond Slices

Assorted Pie Fillings can be used also.  See note at end.

    Almond Glaze

    • 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
    • 1 teaspoon Almond extract
    • 2 Tbs. Milk

    Instructions
     

    • In a small bowl, combine the yeast, ½ Tbs. Sugar, and the warm water.  Allow the yeast to get foamy while you do the next step.
    • In a mixing bowl, whisk together 2 cups of flour, 1 ½ Tbs. Sugar, and the salt.  Cut the butter in until the mixture is crumbly.
    • Add the foamy yeast, egg yolks, and slightly warmed milk.
    • Add enough of the remaining half cup of flour to form a soft dough.
    • Cover and allow to rise until doubled. (About 1 ½ hours)
    • Dump the risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll it out to a little more than ¼ inch thick.
    • Using a 2 ½-inch biscuit cutter, cut the dough into 18-24 circles.
    • Place the circles on a lightly greased baking sheet and allow to rise until doubled. (45 to 60 minutes)
    • When just about doubled, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare the filling.
    • For the mascarpone filling.  Beat the mascarpone, sugar, almond extract, egg yolk, and flour together until smooth.
    • Press the centers of the doubled dough circles down using the back of a tablespoon or the back of a ⅛ cup.
    • Fill the centers with a heaping ½ Tablespoon of filling.  Press the sliced almond onto the top of the mascarpone filling.
    • Bake the danishes at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes.  The bottoms will be golden brown.
    • While the Danish cools, combine all the almond icing ingredients until smooth.  Drizzle the icing over the cooled danishes.
    • Serve or store in an airtight container.

    Notes

    • The amount of filling needed for a single batch of these Danish is one recipe of the mascarpone filling or one can of pie filling of your choice.
    • This recipe was inspired by Taste of Home's Almond-Cheese Coffee Cake
    • Nutritional Disclaimer
    Related Recipe:  31 Birthday Brunch Ideas That Will Make Your Special Day Extra Special

    Nutrition

    Calories: 200kcalCarbohydrates: 27gProtein: 3gFat: 9gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 38mgSodium: 48mgPotassium: 70mgFiber: 1gSugar: 12gVitamin A: 191IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 75mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword cheese danish recipe, danish dough recipe, danish pastries, easy danish recipe
    Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

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    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Merlyn

      July 26, 2022 at 12:13 pm

      Do you have instructions for making 3x the amount of recipe

      Reply
      • Mindee

        July 27, 2022 at 6:41 am

        The instructions should be the same with the exception of needing to bake one pan at a time 🙂

        Reply
    2. Jeff

      April 13, 2019 at 8:14 am

      Looks Delicious

      Reply

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