Cream Cheese Danishes with Cherry & Apricot Fillings

Make flaky pastry dough from scratch and top them with cream cheese and your choice of cherry or apricot fillings.

Course Breakfast, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Berries, Breakfast, Brunch, Cherry, Pastry

Prep Time 2

Cook Time 20

Rest Time 4

Total Time 6 20

Servings 10 Danishes

Calories 421kcal

Author Colleen

Place the dried apricots and juice in a small saucepan over med/ med- low heat. Cover and simmer for 25 minutes or until the apricots are nice and soft.
Add the sugar and salt and stir gently until they have dissolved. Add the butter and remove the pan from the heat. Stir until the butter has melted completely.
Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture, or transfer the mix to a food processor or blender and puree. Store in an air tight container in the fridge until needed.

Defrost the cherries and strain the juice. Add enough water to the juice to have 3 oz of liquid. Add the juice and sugar to a small saucepan and bring the mix to a boil.
While the juice mixture heats up, combine the cornstarch and water in a small bowl. Add this slurry to the boiling juice mixture. Whisk until the mixture has thickened nicely.
Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cherries. Store the mixture in an air tight container in the fridge until needed.

Heat the sugar and water over medium heat and bring it to a boil. The sugar should be completely dissolved. Store the syrup in an air tight container in the fridge until needed.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar on low until smooth. If you prefer a sweeter mixture, you can add an extra half ounce of sugar.
Add the egg, vanilla, and lemon zest. Beat on low until combined. Gently fold in the flour until the mixture is well combined.

Break the fondant up into small pieces and place in a small saucepan with an ounce of water. Place the pan over low heat and gently stir the mixture until the fondant is dissolved. If the mixture is too thick, add water a tiny bit at a time.

Combine the two flours and measure out 6 oz of the mixture into a larger bowl. To this larger bowl, add the yeast, sugar, water, milk, egg, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, and melted butter. Stir gently until the mixture forms a shaggy dough. Add flour from the remaining flour mixture a bit at a time until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl. Do NOT add any more than necessary!
Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until you have a smooth dough, only 2- 3 minutes. Add flour if necessary, but you want a smooth, slightly tacky dough. We can always add more flour later.
Place the dough into a lightly floured bowl, cover, and place in the fridge for 1- 1 ½ hours. While the dough chills, prepare the butter. Place the butter in between two pieces of parchment or wax paper and beat with a rolling pin to soften slightly. Shape the butter into a 4x5" rectangle. Place in the fridge until needed.

Take the dough out of the fridge and roll into a 5x11" rectangle. Try to keep your corners sharp. Place the butter slab on the dough and fold the dough over it, pinching the sides to seal the butter in. The butter should only just fit inside the dough. There shouldn't be a lot of extra space.
Roll the dough out to a 6x12" rectangle, keeping your corners as sharp as possible. Brush excess flour off of the dough. With the length of the dough facing away from you, fold the bottom third of the dough up. Brush off the excess flour. Fold the top third of the dough down. Rotate the dough 90°, cover in cling wrap and chill in the fridge for 30- 60 minutes.
This is your first book turn. Complete 5 more book turns for a total of 6 turns. Then let your dough rest in the fridge overnight, or at least for 4 hours.

Roll the dough out into a thin rectangle (¼"- ⅛" thick) about 7 inches wide. Cut the dough in half lengthwise so you have two long rectangles roughly 3 ½ inches wide. Slice those rectangles into squares. You should end up with 8- 12 squares of pastry dough.
Shape the squares into fruit baskets or pinwheels (read post for instructions), place onto a prepared baking sheet, and brush the edges with an egg wash. Pipe a bit of cream cheese filling into the center and top with either cherries or a dollop of the apricot puree.
Cover the baking sheet with cling wrap and set aside to proof for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake the danishes for 18- 20 minutes or until a deep golden brown. As soon as they come out of the oven, brush with the simple syrup. Transfer to a cooling rack. Once cool, drizzle with the fondant glaze.°

I found that the tips of the pinwheels burn easily, so I prefer the fruit basket shape.
To prevent an overly dark bottom, next time I plan on baking at 400F for 5 minutes, then at 350F for 15 minutes.