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I made a double batch of these cheesecake danish for my family (don’t freak out that there are 2 blocks of cream cheese and 4 egg yolks in the mixing bowl) and they were all gone by day 2.
They are best fresh and warm, but I made them the night before, popped them in the fridge and they were great the next day. The filling is a simplified version of my cheesecake recipe and I used pre-made Pepperidge Farm puff pastry.
This Cheesecake Danish is Easy and good – you can’t go wrong with that! The idea for these comes from Kristina who makes a pumpkin cheesecake version.
Ingredients for Cheesecake Danish:
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks, room temperature
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon juice
1 box (2 sheets) Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed according to package instructions
1 large egg
1 Tbsp water
Powdered sugar – optional
How to Make the Best Cheese Danish:
Preheat oven to 400 ˚ F.
1. Place cream cheese and sugar in a bowl and using electric hand mixer, beat on low speed until smooth.
2. Add egg yolks, vanilla, salt and lemon juice and continue mixing just until well blended.
3. Sprinkle flour on a clean, dry, non-stick surface. Unfold 1 pastry sheet on floured surface and roll it into a 10×10-inch square.
4. Cut pastry into 4 equal squares. Beat together 1 large egg and 1 Tbsp water with a fork. Brush the edges of each square with egg wash.
5. Place a heaping Tbsp of cheesecake mixture diagonally on each square.
6. Fold and overlap 2 of the edges. Pinch tightly to seal.
7. Place pastry on the lined baking dish. Brush the top of the pastry dough with egg wash. Complete the other pastries and repeat with the second puff pastry sheet.
8. Bake 20 minutes (rotating the pan after 10 minutes), until the edges are golden brown. When pastries are just warm, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
Cheesecake Danish Recipe
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 box, 2 sheets Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry, thawed according to package instructions
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp water
- Powdered sugar - optional
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 ˚ F.
- Place cream cheese and sugar in a bowl and beat on low speed until smooth.
- Add egg yolks, vanilla, salt and lemon juice and continue mixing just until well blended.
- Sprinkle flour on a clean, dry, non-stick surface. Unfold 1 pastry sheet on floured surface and roll it into a 10x10-inch square.
- Cut pastry into 4 equal squares. Beat together 1 large egg and 1 Tbsp water with a fork. Brush the edges of each square with egg wash.
- Place a heaping Tbsp of cheesecake mixture diagonally on each square.
- Fold and overlap 2 of the edges. Pinch tightly to seal.
- Place pastry on the lined baking dish. Brush the top of the pastry dough with egg wash. Complete the other pastries and repeat with the second puff pastry sheet.
- Bake 20 minutes (rotating the pan after 10 minutes), until the edges are golden brown. When pastries are just warm, sprinkle with powdered sugar if desired.
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes. I wonder if you have a Cheese Babka recipe? I live on the west coast , it so hard to find farmers cheese.
Hi Joanne! I do not, but I have a Chocolate babka recipe and a recipe for Farmers cheese. You may also enjoy this Cheese filled braided bread recipe.
Can you put these in the fridge unbaked overnight and pop in the oven in the morning?
Thank you 🙂
Hi Janine, I have always baked them right away so I’m not sure how that would turn out or if a film would form on the cream cheese. If you experiment, please let me know how it goes. These do keep well if you wanted to bake them today and enjoy them the next day.
HI Natasha
I love your recipe and followed you all the time. I tried your lasagna and it was a blast…They loved it. Anyway, I wish you have a video taken on cheesecake danish recipe. I always watch and so easy to follow while watching your video.
I’m so happy you enjoyed that! Thank you for that suggestion!
Hi Natasha,
I baked this yesterday, it came out so good. thank you for the delicious recipe. I folded all 4 edges. how can I send you the photo?
So awesome Karina! You can share your photo on our Facebook page or Facebook group!
Thank you Natasha
My cheesecake layer was very thin and I didn’t get much from it. Made it exactly like the recipe.
Hi Liz, that is normal. You don’t want to add too much of the cream cheese mixture or it will overwhelm the pastry and ooze out. I’ve tested this theory 🙂
Hi,
Is lemon juice necessary? I don’t want to taste lemon in the pastry.
Thanks.
Jay.
Hi Jay, it is barely noticeable but it does help to cut the sweetness a little and give it more depth of flavor. Since there is such a small amount, it doesn’t taste lemony.
Made them today….I had hour and a half before guests arrived, and couldn’t think of something quick to bake… Like always, “Natasha’s kitchen”gives me plenty ideas. Well, 30 min before guests arrived, I had a big plate of ready to eat, cooled down, beautiful Cheesecake pastries. It only took me 1hr from frozen puff dough to a ready to eat pastries. I made 9 pastries per one sheet. Two sheets total of 18 Danishes!!! Thank you Natasha for posting such a wonderful recepies!!!!
Irina, thank you for such a sweet comment, It means a lot to me 😊.
These are amazing! Sometimes I swirl some fruit spread in the middle which tastes great too! Thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you for the nice review and you are welcome 😀.
Absolutely delicious… Followed the exact recipe and Danishes turned out amazing. The only thing that I changed is I cut a sheet of pastry into 6 squares instead of 4…and just had smaller Danishes. Вкусняшки :)))
I love the idea of making smaller danishes. I bet they were cute :). Thanks for sharing your awesome review!
I accidently added whole eggs instead of just egg yolks.. Do I have to restart or will my danishes be okay?
The filling might be more loose and might not stay put as well and the texture of the finished product will be a little different. If it seems too runny, you may need to re-do it. Let me know what you ended up doing. Sorry I wasn’t able to get to your comment sooner…
I just did the same thing, what did you end up doing?
On the cheesecake Danish,you stated that there are toe blocks of cream cheese. In the recipe ingredients list, you have one 8 oz cream cheese. Thank you!n linda
When I photographed the recipe, I doubled the recipe and I used 2 blocks, but this recipe only calls for 1 stick of cream cheese. 🙂
These look amazing and my kids love pastries so Im so looking forward to making these. I was just wondering if you have a recipe of how to make puff pastry dough from scratch. I dont know of any stores in my area that sell those…;(
I don’t have one posted unfortunately. Until I do, you might google it and see what’s rated well. Sorry I don’t have a better answer for ya!