Easy Puff Pastry Cream Cheese Danish

Step 1

Heat the oven to 400 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2

Roll out the puff pastry and cut into 8 even pieces. *Use a sharp knife or cookie cutter to cut almost all the way through the pastry dough. You want to make sure there is still enough room all the way around the filling for the sides of the pastry to rise. By cutting a bit of the dough beforehand you help this process along AND help keep most if not all of the filling right in the middle vs running off the sides. I used an Easter egg shaped cookie cutter for these. *I have made these with both slightly spacing the pastries out a bit and with just leaving them touching and it does not make a difference in how this exact dough used preforms or on their final size.

Step 3

You can mix the filling by hand or with a stand mixer. I like to use the paddle attachment with the spatula edge,

Step 4

Cream everything together and then evenly divide and spoon it into the centers of each pastry.

Step 5

Brush with the egg or apricot wash.

Step 6

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes. The pastries are done when they are golden brown and the filling has puffed up just as nicely as the pastry.

Step 7

Allow the pastries to cool on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack or plate.

Step 8

You can enjoy these right out of the oven and or you can let them chill in the fridge, I personally like them room temperature.