Easy Cheese Danish



After purchasing a store bought cheese danish only to find nary a bit of cheese in the whole thing, I remembered an old recipe hiding in the dark in my pantry in a hand-written family heirloom cookbook that I found abandoned on a dusty shelf in times gone by.

So, I dug it out, added the needed ingredients on my "last chance" before Christmas shopping list. We would have cheese danish on Christmas eve. And Christmas morning if it lasted that long.

I know there are many versions of this but this is the one I know & love.

 

Cheese Danish

 

what you'll need:

2 pkgs crescent rolls (I used Pillsbury)

2 pkgs (8 oz.) cream cheese

1 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg (separated)

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tbsp. milk (about)

 

what you'll do:

Lay one pkg. of crescent rolls (unseparated) in a 13"x9" pan. (this is easier at room temp.) Pinch together at seams.

Mix the cream cheese, vanilla, 1 cup regular sugar and the egg yolk together in a bowl (I used an electric hand mixer) until blended smooth & creamy. Pour over rolls in baking pan. Roll second pkg. of crescent rolls out over the top of the cream cheese mixture.Whisk the egg white with a fork or whisk until frothy & brush onto the top crescent roll layer lightly with a pastry brush.

Pop into a preheated oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden brown (about 30 minutes).

When the pastry is almost done baking, whisk together the powdered sugar & milk in a bowl until well combined & a good consistency for glazing. Drizzle glaze onto pastry while still hot from the oven. Refrigerate until set. Serve at room temperature.

(If you can wait that long ;) this is seriously one of those things I have a hard time stopping eating. Until it's gone.

(but that could be said for many things...)

 

 

whole package of crescent roll contents rolled out into the pan

 

cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and egg yolk

 

above ingredients beaten til smooth

cream cheese mixture pours easily atop crescent roll dough in baking pan before gingerly (ha) spreading out to cover dough completely

 

second package of crescent roll dough being unfurled on top of cream cheese filling

 

done. as good as its gonna get. aim to cover all the filling possible but if it doesn't quite meet each edge, don't worry about it.

 

 frothy egg white 

 

brushing egg white onto dough with one hand while praying I don't drop my camera onto egg white, dough & cream cheese goo from the other

 

confectioners sugar & milk glaze drizzled onto warm, fresh from the oven deliciousness

with glaze spread hither & yon

Now you're supposed to refrigerate but eat at room temperature. What?!!! Who made that up? I cooled it in the  fridge until it wouldn't fall apart when we cut it.
And then we ate it.
The end.