Apple Cheese Danish Recipe
This apple cheese danish is the combo of the classic cheese danish and warm slices of apple, like apple pie meets cheese danish!
Servings: 2 Large Danishes
Cost: $5
Ingredients
For the Filling:
- 4 oz cream cheese room temperature
- 2 tablespoons ricotta or mascarpone cheese
- 1 lemon zest and juice, divided
- Pinch kosher salt
- 5 tablespoons white granulated sugar divided
- 2 apples (such as Honey crisp, Braeburn or Gala)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the Assembly and Icing:
- 1 box puff pastry
- 3/4 cup powdered sugar sifted
- 1 tablespoon whole milk
Instructions
To Make the Filling:
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- In a medium bowl, place the cream cheese, ricotta, lemon zest, vanilla, salt, 4 tablespoons of sugar and mix until smooth, using an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Set aside.
- Peel and slice your apples into 1/4-inch slices. In a small bowl toss them with the remaining 1 tablespoon of juice from the one lemon, sugar, and cinnamon.
To Assemble the Cheese Danish:
- Carefully unfold 1 sheet of defrosted puff pastry and roll slightly with a floured rolling pin until it's about 1/4-inch in thickness. I trimmed mine so it was a 11" x 8" rectangle. Transfer the sheet of puff pastry to a piece of parchment that's on a baking sheet.
- At an angle, slice off the top corners and cut two notches in the bottom. Slice 1-inch strips diagonally down both sides of the puff pastry, leaving the center uncut. Try to cut the same amount of strips on both sides. I had about 8 strips per side.
- Add three tablespoons of cream cheese filling, spreading it evenly down the center of the puff pastry. Top with apple slices.
- Fold in the bottom and top flaps. Braid the puff pastry, by folding the strips over the filing, alternating sides, until you've worked your way down the puff pastry. Using your knife, trim off any leftover strips or extra dough.
- Transfer the danish to the freezer to chill for 15 minutes.
- Brush with egg wash liberally. Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until puffed up and golden brown.
To Make the Icing:
- In a medium bowl, combine the powedered sugar with the milk. Mix until combined. When the danish comes out of the oven, drizzle top with icing and serve warm.
Notes
Tips and Tricks:
- Switch up the apples. I used honey crisp apples in these, however any sort of baking apple would work in these. You don't want anything too tart because you want it to compliment the cream cheese and lemon layer, not compete. For example, Braeburn or Gala would be perfect in here
- Try other fruit. If apples aren't in season or you've got some other fresh fruit to use just substitute those instead of the apples, but not too many or you'll have a juicy problem. Just enough to cover the cheese filling. You could even go with pears too!
- Go the classic cheese danish route. If you don't want any fruit just make the cheese filling and skip the apples, as a result you'll get a good classic cheese danish!
Nutrition
Serving: 4g | Calories: 250kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 21g | Saturated Fat: 12g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 43mg | Potassium: 54mg | Fiber: 8g | Sugar: 24g | Vitamin A: 356IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 34mg | Iron: 7mg