Cheesecake Danish Recipe
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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.
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
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!
Thank you for the recipe. Very easy to make.They are in the oven right now and they look so good!!
You are welcome :), every time I make this Danish, I always wish to double the recipe since it gets eaten so fast.
These look sooo good! I’m actually in the middle of making some 🙂 these made me crave Napoleon cake ha! Do you have any Napoleon cake recipes or know of someone that does? I can’t seem to find a good one.
🙂 Kseniya
Check out Napoleon Cake on my blog :).
Does the filling run as the Danishes bake?
It didn’t for me and I’ve made this several times. I should have taken a final picture (in my defense; this was posted before I got better at taking good photos ;)). Just don’t overdo it on the filling and it will be ok 🙂
Made those just now and already ate 2! Absolutely delicious!!!
The filling wasn’t enough for 8 danishes so I ended up mixing more filling. Don’t know maybe I put way too much, but it seems just perfect with the amount of filling I put in them. Thanks for the recipe idea, my husband should be home soon he will enjoy them for sure! 🙂
Awesome, thank you for the good report Inna :).
Hello,
I would like to ask you if there is a possibility you might know how to make pastry dough? The Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry has high fructose corn syrup in the ingredients. Plus if I would want to make it everything from scratch it would be a good idea just to know the recipe of the dough. Thank you.
That would be a good post. I’ll add it to my to-do list. Thanks for the idea!!
Check out this website for the recipe of puff pastry dough
http://www.olgasflavorfactory.com/miscellaneous/quick-puff-pastry/
Oh I love Olga’s blog. I didn’t realize she had puff pastry posted. Thank you!!
i just made these! and they are aaammmazzziiiinnnggg!!!!!!!! 🙂 thank u! you
You’re welcome Nadya 🙂 Thanks for letting me know you loved them!
Made these tonight! Turned out well! I put in half a teaspoon of lemon juice instead of a full one because I don’t like food too lemony. Next time I want to put raisins into the filling and maybe a tiny bit less sugar. Thanks for the recipe Natasha!
You are welcome Kate :).
These were amazing!! Thank you! Since I had a lot of apples I microwaved 1 chopped apple, 1 T sugsar and 1/2 t. cinnamon for a 1.5 minutes and added on top of the cheesecake mixture. YUM!!! Can’t wait to make much more of it next time!
Mmm that apple idea of yours sounds great. Thanks Alena!
Hi Natasha,
I don’t know why the cream cheese filling spilled out from the pastry in the oven :(( it made a mess. Maybe I put too much? Seems like no one had that problem so maybe I put too much in…
Btw, cash and carry has a huge box of pre-cut square pastry for a good deal 🙂
I have had that problem if I put too much of the mix inside. I will have to test out the one in cash and carry. Thanks!
Can you make these with apples?
I’ve tried apricots and sugar sprinkled on top, but not apples. You may have to sautee your apples with some sugar and a bit of water to soften them up. Then it would be like an apple pie. That sounds like a nice idea.
How much dose usually come out? (like pieces out of one recipe? )
8 Danishes from 1 box (2 sheets puff pastry)
very easy to make and delicious, thank you very much for the recipe. By the way i am also a nurse, good luck in your schooling 🙂
I especially love when nurses comment 🙂 I guess I am biased!
i made these today, they were very good. its amazing how much things can be made with puff pastry sheets!!!
I know! And I love that I don’t have to make the pastry from scratch! It’s so fast and easy just to buy it.
do you know where to buy the pastry in bulk? or the best deal?
I’ve found it to be least expensive at winco followed by walmart
You can also buy at Cash&Carry in the big pack.
Thanks girl!
Can you please post some gravy recipes? thank u!
Yes 🙂 it’s now on my list. I made gravy recently and completely forgot pictures!
These were so good! I’m going to make them this week! Yum!
HI Zhanna!! I’m glad you liked them. It was great having you over. You are always welcome visit and stay at our house 🙂 I’m so glad the boys had fun together this time around!
Just a heads up – I made a change to the recipe last night – should have been 2 egg yolks instead of 1!! Sorry about the mix-up.
Looks good Gonna try! Thanx!
Hi Natasha – you are very welcome! 🙂
Natasha….These look so good. I’m going to make these for sure, I always have frozen puff pastry in the freezer and most of the ingredients. Thanks again for posting and sharing one of your recipes.
irina 🙂
These look amazing! And so simple. Will try them soon. 🙂 Thank you again for your wonderful recipes and your dedication with posting 🙂
Hi Mila – you know I’m still really looking forward to trying that recipe you sent me as soon as my mom’s strawberries and raspberries are ripe! 🙂
I can’t wait for you to! I’m sure you will love it! And I wAnt to c your creation. Everyone makes there’s different in some way and it’s interesting to see. (decor wise) Have a blessed weekend!!! 🙂