Real Recipes From Real Home Cooks ®

berry cream cheese danish

(9 ratings)
Blue Ribbon Recipe by
Cheryl Mills
Olympia, WA

I created this recipe using a combination of recipes. These recipes have proven to be tried and true winners over the course of 30 years. Hope you enjoy it as much as my family, friends, and co-workers did recently.

Blue Ribbon Recipe

Now, THIS berry cream cheese danish is the way to start your day! The sweet bread is soft and tender. Sweet and tangy cream cheese is mixed with a berry jam to make a fantastic filling. It's filled with fresh fruit flavors of blueberries and strawberries. Drizzled with a glaze, this danish looks beautiful when presented.

— The Test Kitchen @kitchencrew
(9 ratings)
yield serving(s)
prep time 2 Hr
cook time 40 Min
method Bake

Ingredients For berry cream cheese danish

  • BERRY FILLING
  • 1/2 c
    strawberries, fresh
  • 1/4 c
    blueberries, fresh
  • 1 c
    water
  • 1/4 c
    sugar
  • 1/2 tsp
    cinnamon, ground
  • 1 Tbsp
    butter
  • 1 Tbsp
    corn starch
  • CREAM CHEESE FILLING
  • 1 pkg
    cream cheese, room temperature (8 oz)
  • 1
    egg yolk
  • 1/2 c
    sugar
  • 1/2 tsp
    vanilla extract
  • SWEET DOUGH
  • 1/2 c
    water
  • 1 pkg
    active dry yeast
  • 1/2 c
    milk, skim
  • 1/2 c
    sugar
  • 1/2 c
    canola oil
  • 1 tsp
    salt
  • 2
    eggs
  • 4 c
    all-purpose flour
  • GLAZE
  • 1 1/2 c
    powdered sugar
  • 2 Tbsp
    butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 tsp
    vanilla extract
  • 4 - 6 Tbsp
    hot water

How To Make berry cream cheese danish

  • Yeast, milk, sugar, oil, salt, and eggs in a bowl.
    1
    In a mixing bowl using beaters, dissolve yeast in warm water. With the mixer on low speed, stir in milk, sugar, oil, salt, and eggs until combined.
  • Slowly adding flour to the bowl.
    2
    Slowly add 2 cups of flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make the dough easy to handle. Replace beater with a dough hook, knead in medium-low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.*
  • Dough in a greased bowl ready to rise.
    3
    Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Set aside to rise in a warm place until about double in size, about 2 hours.
  • Strawberries, blueberries, water, sugar, and cinnamon in a saucepan.
    4
    While dough rises, prepare the fruit filling. Place sliced strawberries and blueberries in a 1-quart pot along with water, sugar, and cinnamon. Heat until the fruit is soft. With a potato masher crush the fruit leaving some bits and pieces for texture. Bring to boil.
  • Adding corn starch slurry to the fresh berries.
    5
    In a separate bowl, mix corn starch and 3 - 4 tablespoons of water. When the fruit mixture is at full boil, add corn starch mixture slowly and blend thoroughly with a whisk. Mixture should thick nicely rather quickly to the consistency of a loose jam type mixture. Set aside to cool.
  • Cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla extract combined in a bowl.
    6
    While the fruit mixture cools, make the cream cheese filling. In a mixing bowl, mix softened cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, and vanilla extract. Scrape the bowl once, mixing until smooth and well blended.
  • Punching down the risen dough.
    7
    When dough is ready, punch down dough. Cover with inverted bowl; let rest for 15 - 20 minutes.
  • Rolling out the dough.
    8
    When dough is done resting, preheat over to 350 degrees. Divide dough into two equal portions. Roll out one portion on lightly floured counter. Roll out into a rectangular shape about 15 inches long and 8 inches wide.
  • Cutting slices into the dough.
    9
    Cover large cookie sheet with cooking spray cooking sheet. Place dough on the center of a cookie sheet. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, place 10 - 12 evenly spaced slices along each side creating strips. Slice carefully leaving the center 1 - 2 inches of dough unsliced, creating a 'bed' for the fruit and cream cheese mixtures.
  • Cream filling added to center of the dough.
    10
    With a plastic spatula or spoon, scoop about half of the cream cheese mixture on the 'bed' of the dough allowing some to get close to the inner edge of the sliced dough.
  • Fruit filling poured into center of the dough.
    11
    Place half of the fruit mixture on top of the cream cheese mixture. Spread the fruit mixture so it covers the majority of the cream cheese mixture.
  • Braiding the berry danish.
    12
    Flip ends of dough over onto of the mixtures. Pick up one strip of sliced dough from each side of the pastry and pull up gently and tuck one under the other to tie.
  • Berry Cream Cheese Danish braided.
    13
    Repeat until all stripes of sliced dough have been tied. Using a second cookie sheet, repeat this entire process with the other portion of dough.
  • Berry danish baking in the oven.
    14
    In preheated oven, bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. Make sure to only place one cookie sheet at a time in oven.
  • Berry Cream Cheese Danish cooling.
    15
    When the first pastry is done, place the pan on a rack to cool. Then place the second pastry on a cookie sheet to bake. While the first pastry is cooling on the pan, make the glaze.
  • Powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and water in a bowl for the glaze.
    16
    In a mixing bowl, beat powdered sugar, softened butter, vanilla, and hot water until smooth.
  • Drizzling glaze over the cooled berry danish.
    17
    When the first pastry is cool enough to move, place it on the wire rack and cool completely. Follow the same cooling steps for the second pastry as well. When both pastries are completely cooled, drizzle glaze over both. You can serve immediately or wait until the glaze has set, about 15 minutes.
  • Inside of the Berry Cream Cheese Danish.
    18
    *If a dough hook is not available, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic for about 5 minutes.
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