Cheese Danish

Since I have all this extra time on my hands, I thought I would give another quick idea for some yummy treats!  Yesterday I was making a breakfast for John to take with him on his “Guys Weekend” (it just doesn’t matter whether they take us along or leave us at home, guys still need help from their wives!) and I decided to get some practice making other quick treats.  Treat of the day is Cheese Danish! Yumm-O (to quote some other chef).

Try this one morning for your own pleasure or a special treat for guests.  I am positive they will come back for more – although if they aren’t into lemons or cheese stuff they may not.

Cheese Danish – From the mind of Ina Gartner

Ingredients

1 box of puff pastry dough (defrosted)
1/3 cup sugar
1 8 oz. Cream cheese – room temp
2 egg yolks (not the whites) room temp
2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest (2 lemons)
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment
3. Cream the sugar and cream cheese together on low speed until smooth.  Add yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt and lemon zest still on low just until combined.  Do not whip!
4. Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it’s a 10 by 10-inch square.  Cut the sheet into 9 squares with a sharp knife.  Place a heaping teaspoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 9 squares.  Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold 2 opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together.  Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash.  Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan.  Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry and refrigerate the filled Danish for 15 minutes.
5. Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown.  Serve warm.

Variation: you could use your favorite jam or preserve in place of the cheese filling.  That would be yummy as well.