Excuses for treats
Every Thursday, I have a scheduling meeting at work. You know what makes a scheduling meeting better? Snacks! This week, I thought I would give cherry-cheese danish a try. I have never made a danish before, but I have tasted them. This dough recipe didn’t have that flaky danish texture, but it did taste pretty good as a sweet dough. It also gave me an excuse to use some cherry jam I had made earlier this year. And the cheese?…. Well, I just like cheese. And in the end, the final product looked great with a little white and red swirl on top.
It was nice making the dough the day before. It saved me some time the day I baked them and it also gave the yeast time to really develop some nice flavor. Nothing really too complicated, but there were several components to this recipe, so just give yourself some time and be prepared for lots of dishes. All in all, I might make this recipe again, but I think I might try finding a more flaky type dough. That way you know you are eating a cherry cheese danish.
Lessons Learned:
- You can freeze egg whites! I had no idea. This recipe calls for lots of egg yolks and I was getting sad about throwing them away because I didn’t have enough time to cook them. But a quick google search revealed that you can freeze them and cook later! Just defrost in the fridge. Heck yes! Egg white frittata for breakfast next week!
- Cutting butter into flour takes some elbow grease and some patience. Maybe consider using a food processor next time if you don’t mind doing more dishes.
- I need to buy a pizza cutter. That would have made cutting up the dough easier….and it would come in handy for whenever I make pizza.
- Once the drizzle topping dries, it sticks to everything. Make sure to rinse dishes & wash off work surface before it hardens. You will thank me.
- Don’t drop any on the floor. You would think that is a given, but there are always accidents as in my case. Don’t worry. I didn’t share the ones that fell on the floor. I ate those myself. 🙂
- (2) ¼ oz packages of active dry yeast
- 2 cups warm milk
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 cup cold butter, small chunks
- 6 egg yolks
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 egg yolks
- ½ cup cherry preserve
- 3 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp butter, melted
- ¼ tsp vanilla
- pinch of salt
- 5-6 Tbsp milk plus a little more as required
- Prepare the dough the night before baking. Dissolve yeast into ½ cup of the warm milk and set aside to proof for 5-10 min. Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter to flour mixture and use a pastry cutter to cut butter into flour until crumbly...or until your arm is sore and you give up.
- Add yeast mixture, rest of milk, and egg yolks to the flour mixture. Mix dough until everything is incorporated. The dough will still be sticky. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Next day, remove dough from bowl and drop onto lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 4 equal pieces.
- One at a time, roll each piece into an 18"x4" rectangle....or something that looks close. Cut each into 1" strips. Take two strips and twist together, then roll the twisted pieces in a pinwheel kind of shape, and pinch the ends together. (The picture helps with this.) Set on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat. When all dough is shaped, set aside and let rise for 30-45 minutes.
- While the dough is rising, prepare the filling. Whisk together cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg yolks until smooth.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Make an indentation in the center of the shaped dough. Drop about 1 Tbsp of the cheese mixture with about 1 Tbsp of cherry preserve in the center of the dough. Use a toothpick to swirl the two together without damaging the dough.
- Bake the filled danishes for 15-17 minutes or until slightly golden brown along the edges. Place baked danishes on a cooling rack to cool.
- While danishes are baking/cooling, prepare drizzle topping. Whisk together powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, and milk. If mixture is not smooth, add a little more milk, 1 Tbsp at a time. When danishes are cool, drizzle mixture over each one. I would suggest having something underneath the danishes when drizzling for easy clean up.
- When drizzle is set, enjoy one for your hard work. Since there was a cheese filling, I stored them in the refrigerator just in case. It didn't affect the texture.
This dough recipe was adapted from Taste of Home and filling from Love Pomegranate House
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