Berries and Cream Danish Pastries

by Rachel Piercey

Danish pastries are such a treat, especially when the are made from scratch! It may seem intimidating but the time put into homemade pastries is so worth it.

Yields 18 pastries

One recipe Danish Pastry Dough
Cream Cheese Filling:
6oz cream cheese
1 egg yolk
3 tbsp sugar
Berry Filling:
1 cup mixed berries
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tbsp cornstarch (mixed with a bot of water)
Topping:
1 egg for egg wash
Coarse sugar (sugar in the raw etc.)

  1. To prepare the cream cheese filling place all ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.
  2. For the berry filling place everything except for the cornstarch in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and then slowly add in the cornstarch mixture while stirring. Let simmer for a minute to thicken. Remove from heat and let cool completely before using.
  3. Take your prepared danish dough and on a floured surface roll it out to a 9x18” rectangle. Cut the dough into 18 three inch squares.
  4. Place a spoonful of the cream cheese filling on the pastry squares and cut and fold as desired, placing a spoonful of the berry filling on top.
  5. (My favourite shape to make are the pinwheels. To make these cut the pastry from the outer corners to the cream cheese filling in the centre and fold every second corner tip into the centre of the filling, pressing down slightly to seal. Top with berry filling.)
  6. Place the prepared pastries onto a parchment lined baking sheet about 3 inches apart. Let proof for 25-30 minutes.
  7. While pastries are proofing preheat oven to 375F.
  8. After proofing brush the pastries with the egg wash and sprinkle with a coarse crunchy sugar, and then bake for around 12 minutes.