Easy Cheese Danish

 This recipe is from The Barefoot Contessa at Home cookbook.  At the beginning of the book she says "Home is where ever Jeffrey is".  Every time I read that line it just makes me smile.  I love her show and I like the orchestrated interactions between Ina and Jeffrey.  Even if the  circumstance are prearranged they still appear so happy and I enjoyed learning about their love story.  I totally agree with Ina ... my home is where ever my hubby is.  My home is bursting with activity and craziness but, also lots of love.  I like to show love with food and to my hubby breakfast sweets are a true passion of his.  There are quite a few morning treats he enjoys but, a good cheese danish is always at the top of his list.  


These came together easily and were a good sized portion but, I think the amount of cheese filling was a bit light.  It may have been how I added the filling to each piece of pastry dough but, some seem a bit thin.  I made these the night before and refrigerated them and then baked them in the morning.  YUM!

Easy Cheese Danish

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

  

Ingredients

nocoupons

• 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
• 2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 2 sheets (1 box) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth. With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest and mix until just combined. Don't whip!

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 6th with a sharp knife. Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 6 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 (or overnight).

Bake the pastries for about 15-20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown. Serve warm.