Looking for a breakfast the whole family will love? This Homemade Cream Cheese Danish is made entirely from scratch and yields light, pillowy pastries filled with sweet cream cheese and your choice of fruit or compote.
A soft, flaky cream cheese danish is one of my favorite breakfast pastries—especially when paired with a tart cherry or sweet blueberry filling. These danishes were a customer favorite at my bakery; when we served them, they always got rave reviews.
The process takes time but is straightforward. Spread the work across two days for best results: prepare the laminated butter and dough on day one, refrigerate overnight for a slow rise, then shape, fill, and bake on day two. The extra time lets the flavors develop and creates those airy, buttery layers that make a danish so special.
🥣 Key Ingredients
This recipe uses a simple set of pantry staples: flour, butter, instant yeast, sugar, egg, salt, cream cheese, and a touch of almond extract. You’ll prepare a butter block for laminating, a slightly sweet enriched yeast dough, and a creamy filling. Fruit fillings (compote or preserves) are optional and make the danishes vibrant and customizable.
- Butter: Use salted butter for more flavor; it balances the sweetness in the filling and glaze.
- Instant yeast: Produces a soft, sweet yeast dough and speeds up rising time compared to active dry yeast.
- Cream cheese: Full-fat block cream cheese creates the smooth, rich filling; almond extract pairs beautifully with it.
- Fruit filling: Use any cooled compote or filling you prefer—cherry, blueberry, or apricot work well.
🥐 How to Make Cream Cheese Danish from Scratch
The process combines a slightly sweet yeast dough with cold butter folded and rolled into layers. The butter block is sandwiched into the dough and the dough is rolled and folded several times to create multiple lamination layers. Proper temperature control is important: the butter must stay cold while the dough should be cool but pliable when rolling. Follow the instructions below for a clear, step-by-step guide.
Make Them in Advance
This recipe yields 16 large danishes. If you don’t need that many at once, freeze half of the unbaked, filled danishes after they’ve completed their final rise. Thaw them in the refrigerator overnight, then bake fresh the next morning for warm, bakery-style pastries.
🎥 Step-by-Step Video
There is a helpful step-by-step video demonstrating the rolling and folding technique. Watching lamination and shaping makes the procedure easier to follow, especially if you’re new to laminated doughs.
👩🍳 Quick Tips
To ensure a smooth cream cheese filling, beat the cream cheese with sugar and almond extract until no lumps remain—use a stand mixer or handheld mixer. Keep the butter block and flour mixture cold and firm. When rolling and folding, keep the dough cool so the butter layers stay distinct. Any fruit filling should be completely cooled before topping the cream cheese so the texture remains stable.
💭 Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. Freeze unbaked, risen danishes and bake them straight from the fridge after thawing overnight for the freshest results.
Store in the refrigerator for 2–3 days. They’re best the day they’re baked; reheat briefly before serving. For longer storage, freeze unbaked or baked danishes.
No. Danish dough is enriched with yeast, egg, and extra butter, producing a softer, fluffier pastry. Puff pastry uses fewer wet ingredients and relies on many layers of butter to create a crisper, flakier texture.
🥞 Other Breakfast Pastries You’ll Love
If you enjoy these danishes, try other homemade favorites like bakery-style cinnamon rolls or take-and-bake cinnamon rolls—scratch recipes deliver much better flavor and texture than store-bought options.
I hope you enjoy this scratch-made Cream Cheese Danish—one of my favorite bakery recipes. If you try it, I’d love to hear how it turns out.
Thanks for reading. ❤️
📖 Recipe & Step-by-Step Instructions
Homemade Cream Cheese Danish (from scratch!)
Ingredients
Danish Butter Ingredients
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) salted butter, at room temperature
- 44 grams (1/3 cup) flour
Danish Pastry Dough Ingredients
- 500 grams (about 3 ¾ cups) flour
- 2 Tablespoons instant yeast
- 1 ⅓ cups hot water (around 120°F / 49°C)
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 50 grams (¼ cup) sugar
Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients
- 16 ounces (2 blocks) cream cheese
- 200 grams (1 cup) sugar
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
Additional Danish Ingredients
- 1 cup prepared fruit filling of your choice (optional)
- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
- ¼ cup sugar (for sprinkling)
Simple Glaze
- 141 grams (1 ¼ cup) powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons room temperature water
Instructions
Day One — Prepare the Danish Butter
- Mix the room-temperature butter and 44 g flour until combined. Spread this mixture onto one half of a 12×16-inch sheet of parchment paper. Fold the parchment over and use a rolling pin to flatten the butter into an even sheet. Freeze until very firm, about 1–2 hours or overnight.
Make the Danish Dough
- Whisk the flour and instant yeast together. In a separate bowl, combine the egg, salt, almond extract, and sugar. Pour one cup of very hot water over the wet ingredients, then add the flour/yeast mixture. Stir with a sturdy spatula until the dough is uniform, stretchy, and sticky, about 5 minutes. Let rest until it cools to room temperature.
Roll Out and Laminate the Dough
- Turn the cooled dough out onto a floured surface. Lightly press into a rectangle and roll to roughly 12×18 inches. Remove the firm butter from the freezer, discard parchment, place the butter block on one half of the dough, and brush the exposed dough edges with water. Fold the dough over the butter to encase it.
- Rotate 90 degrees and roll the folded dough to about 10×16 inches. Brush edges with water and fold the dough into thirds (like a letter). Repeat this roll-and-fold three more times, chilling if necessary to keep the butter firm between turns. After the final fold, place the dough in a lightly greased pan, loosely cover with plastic, and refrigerate overnight for a slow rise.
Prepare the Fillings
- Beat the cream cheese, sugar, and almond extract together until very smooth. Refrigerate until ready to assemble. If using fruit filling, prepare and chill it so it’s cool when added to the pastries.
Day Two — Form and Bake the Danishes
- Remove risen dough from the fridge and divide into two halves. On a lightly floured surface, roll each half into a 14-inch circle. Cut each circle into 8 triangles.
- Place filling at the wide end of each triangle: either 2 heaping tablespoons cream cheese filling or 1 tablespoon cream cheese plus 1 tablespoon fruit filling. Brush triangle edges with water and roll up like a croissant, tucking the tip underneath. Place on parchment-lined sheet pans 2 inches apart.
- Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with ¼ cup sugar. Let rise about 1 hour or until doubled. Preheat oven to 325°F (160°C).
- Bake 20–30 minutes until puffed, golden, and fully baked. While warm, whisk powdered sugar and water to a smooth glaze and drizzle over the danishes. Serve warm.
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