Easy Danish Recipe

5 from 1 vote

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!

Prep Time3

Cook Time15

Total Time3 15

Course: Breakfast

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cheese danish recipe, danish dough recipe, danish pastries, easy danish recipe

Servings: serving

Calories: 200kcal

Author: Mindee

Cost: 15

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

Nutrition