Easy Danish Recipe

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!

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!

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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

FAQs and Expert Tips

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