Impress Your Family With This Surprisingly Easy Cherry Almond Danish

This morning on What's Cookin'? Our friend Patty Millay made some bakery-worthy pastries that Chad and I both basically inhaled. It was a delicious experiment as she wasn't quite sure how they would turn out. Pastries can be a bit intimidating in my personal opinion, but she wanted to see if this easy recipe really worked.

Boy, did it ever! These cherry almond danishes taste just like what you'd get at any legit bakery. The pastry turns out fluffy and soft with crunchy, buttery flakiness. The filling is the perfect combo of cherry and almond for an amaretto experience from the gods. You could make a batch and have the best on-the-go breakfast of your family's life, or impress your friends at a brunch. They'll be like, "Wait. You made these?"

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Cherry Almond Danish Ingredients

1 package (2 sheets) of puff pastry, thawed

Filling:

• 8 ounces of cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 eggs separated - use the yolks in the filling, save the whites for the egg wash
• 3 Tbl white granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tbl heavy cream
• 1 can cherry pie filling
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds

Egg Wash:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp cold water

Glaze:

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Thaw the puff pastry at room temperature and bring your cream cheese up to room temperature.  This takes 30 - 45minutes.  Preheat your oven to 400*.
2. Prepare the filling by whisking cream cheese, sugar, heavy cream, vanilla extract, almond extract, and egg yolk until silky and light.
3. Gently unfold pastry and smooth any creases.
4. Slice the pastry sheet into 4 equal squares.
5. Delicately trace a one-inch inner border using the back of a butter knife. Be careful not to slice through the dough.  This gives you a visual guide on where to place the filling.
6. Grease your baking sheet or get a parchment paper liner and place your pastries on the baking sheet.  I used two sheets and did 4 pastries per sheet in two separate batches.
7. Dollop the cream cheese filling mixture into the center of each rectangle, maintain that narrow margin around the edges.  I used about a tablespoon or so per square.
8. Crown each slice with cherries (try to use more cherries than gelatin in the pie mix).
9. Make the egg wash by blending one egg with a small splash of water.
10. Brush the pastry edges, then scatter the almonds across the surface.  I added a good pinch of white granulated sugar on top - I just felt like it needed a little sparkle of more sugar!
11. Transfer the baking sheet and place in the preheated oven.  Bake for 15-18 minutes until the pastries are a rich golden brown.  Allow the danishes to cool completely.  Just leave them on a cooling rack on the baking pan for at least 30 minutes.
12. Prepare the glaze by whisking powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla extract into a smooth glaze.  Drizzle the glaze over the cooled pastries.

Patty said she ended up with enough filling to do a third sheet of pastries. Good to know that, just in case you are feeding a crowd, this can be stretched for another pan of goodness!  You'll just need to grab more puff pastry.

Store any leftover danishes in an airtight container lined with parchment paper and keep for up to 3 days. To reheat, place danishes in a pre-heated oven at 325* for 5-7 minutes until heated through. For this and more homerun recipes, check out whatsfordinnerwithpatty.blogspot.com