Cherry Cream Cheese Danish

My name is Shannon, and I am 7 months pregnant.  When I’m pregnant, I have a pie obsession.  These aren’t technically pies, but they are like pie.  Crisp, flaky crust and fruit filling.  And much less work than making a whole pie.  As I was doing my Christmas baking for my neighbors, friends, and family last week with my mom, sister, and daughter we made a lot of goodies that I’ve already featured on this blog, with one new addition: Cherry Cream Cheese Danish.  I have one word: GLORIOUS.

Not only were these two-bite sized pastries melt-in-your-mouth delicious, they were super easy and super beautiful.

I can guarantee you I will be making these again.  This would be a perfect little treat for a baby shower, bridal shower, tea party, a coffee date,  a brunch, or any kind of party, really.

I doubled this recipe, since a package of puff pastry comes with two sheets, and since each sheet only makes 9 pastries.  Plus, cream cheese comes in blocks of 8oz. 🙂

Ingredients:

Ready made Puff Pastry (1 sheet)
Cherry pie filling (or fruit of choice)

Cream cheese mixture:
Half block of cream cheese (4oz)
1 Tbs sugar
vanilla extract (few drops)
lemon juice (just a splash)
Drizzle icing:

1 cup of powdered sugar
2-3 tsp orange juice or milk until you get the right consistency.

Directions:

Thaw the puff pastry.  I put it out for an hour, and then cut it into squares.  If the squares are still a little stiff, I thaw them out the rest of the way with my (clean) hands. 🙂

Soften the cream cheese to room temperature, and mix in the sugar, vanilla, and lemon. The amounts are really just to taste.

Then, working on a floured surface, I cut the sheet of thawed pastry into 9 squares. Then spread the cream cheese mixture on a diagonal.

Then, I added three cherries in a diagonal line across the cream cheese mixture:

Then, I folded each side over top of the cherries:

Make sure you seal it as well as possible:

Then I brused each pastry with a bit of egg wash (1 egg, whisked together with a few tablespoons of water) and I popped them into a 425° oven until they were golden brown (about 12 minutes, in my oven)

Once they had cooled a bit, I drizzled them with glaze.  Then, I ate waaaaay too many of them and put them in my Christmas goodie boxes.