Whether it’s breakfast, brunch or dessert, my Raspberry Danish recipe is just what you need! This recipe produces raspberry danish pastries just like the ones from your favorite bakery, but in very little time and with hardly any effort.
I know you’ll love my recipe for raspberry cream cheese danish pastries because it is so simple. In no time at all, the cream cheese filling is whipped together, topped with an easy raspberry mix and popped into the oven. The sweetness of the raspberries, mixed with the tangy cream cheese makes these raspberry danish pastries truly addictive.
Just like my Puff Pastry Apple Tart or Fig Tartlets, I love using store bought frozen puff pastry. It is so convenient for creating impressive desserts in very little time.
This raspberry danish recipe is no different. These make a fantastic dessert that I like to serve with my butterfly chicken recipe as the main course, everybody loves it!
If you’re like me and enjoy a traditional Italian breakfast of strong coffee and a sweet pastry, then this is the recipe for you. This deliciously light and flaky raspberry danish is the perfect home baked pastry to start your day.
For complete ingredient quantities and full instructions, please scroll to the printable recipe card bottom of the page.
Ingredients
- Frozen puff pastry - I use store bought puff pastry that comes in square sheets approximately 10in x 10in (25cm x 25cm) which makes it easy to cut into squares. Whatever you can find will do, but remember, good quality butter puff pastry will produce tastier and more impressive puffs.
- Cream cheese – This is the hero of the raspberry danish filling, so please use full fat. I like to take my cream cheese out of the fridge 30-40 minutes before (depending on your climate) so that it’s easy to mix the filling and prevent lumps.
- Powdered sugar – I like to use this finely ground sugar to sweeten the cream cheese filling. Unlike regular sugar, it contains cornstarch which helps the filling to set and not ooze all over the raspberry danish pastry. If you substitute with white sugar, please add a little cornstarch to help the filling set.
- Egg - The egg yolk is used to enrich the cream cheese filling and also to help it set once in the oven. Keep the remaining egg white to brush the puff pastry before it goes in the oven so that it becomes a lovely golden brown color.
- Lemon – Fragrant lemon zest adds an addictive tangy flavor to a cream cheese danish without being sour. Be sure to grate just the lovely yellow skin from the lemon and not the white pith (which is quite bitter). Don’t forget to save the rest of the lemon for the glaze.
- Vanilla extract – This is a natural product of the vanilla bean, just in a more user-friendly form. Of course, vanilla paste or a scraped vanilla bean are both good substitutes. Just don’t use vanilla essence as it is a synthetic flavoring.
- Raspberry jam – I recommend a good quality store bought raspberry jam because this is another hero ingredient of the raspberry danish.
- Raspberries – I add a handful of fresh raspberries to the raspberry filling for color, appeal and texture. Plus I love combining the flavors of fresh raspberries with the jam. I don’t recommend substituting frozen raspberries. If you can’t find fresh raspberries, just add a little more jam.
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- For the raspberry mix, combine fresh raspberries with raspberry jam in a small bowl
- For the cream cheese filling, beat the cream cheese with powdered sugar, egg yolk, lemon zest and vanilla extract until creamy.
- Cut the thawed but still cool puff pastry into 5 x 5 inches (12 ½ x 12 ½ cm) squares. Fold the corners in to meet at the center and press them down so that the dough sticks firmly. Using a fork, prick the center of each folded square several times. Repeat with the remaining dough until you have 12 squares in total. Arrange the folded squares onto the baking sheets and brush lightly with beaten egg white.
- Spoon a generous amount of the cream cheese filling into the center of each pastry and top with the raspberry mix.
Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and puffed.
While the danishes are cooling on a wire rack, prepare the icing by mixing powdered sugar with lemon juice. When cool, drizzle the danishes with icing.
Don’t skip pricking the centers with a fork. This stops the pastry from rising a lot in the middle which would cause the filling to spill over.
Substitutions
- You can substitute the powdered sugar for regular white sugar. I would just recommend adding a little cornstarch to the cream cheese filling to ensure it sets.
- A food grade lemon oil could be substituted for lemon zest.
Variations
This raspberry cream cheese danish recipe can be varied with a few ingredient changes.
- Get creative with the fruits! Try blueberry, blackberry, strawberry or even cherry danishes. If you can’t find fresh fruit, just use a larger quantity of jam for the recipe.
- Instead of icing the pastries, a dusting of powdered sugar just before serving would be a gorgeous alternative.
- Try another citrus to flavor the cream cheese filling and icing. Oranges or limes would be good.
- Sprinkle the pastries with a little demerara sugar just after you’ve brushed the egg wash all over them. This will give a little extra sweetness and crunch.
Storage
The raspberry danish pastries are best enjoyed fresh. However, leftovers can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. I suggest allowing the pastries to come down to room temperature before enjoying or popping them in a hot oven for 5-10 minutes to refresh (even though the icing will melt).
Tips for Success and FAQ’s
My top tip for this raspberry danish recipe is ensuring your oven is properly preheated before you bake your pastries. Puff pastry requires a hot oven to rise and become light and flaky. If your oven is not hot enough, the pastry will become soggy and heavy.
When thawing puff pastry, be sure to use it while it is still cool but pliable. It can thaw too much and cause the pastry to become sticky and difficult to work with. If this is the case, just pop it back in the freezer for a couple of minutes.
Be careful not to overfill your danishes (it is so easy too!) A generous cream cheese filling is desirable, but you don’t want so much that it runs off the sides.
This recipe is so simple to put together that I haven’t ever needed to prepare them ahead of time. However, you could easily freeze the prepared pastries before they are cooked. When you are ready to use them, take them out of the freezer to let them thaw and then bake as per the recipe.
You can definitely try freezing these Raspberry Danishes, although I haven’t done so myself (they don’t last long enough in our house to have leftovers to freeze). I suggest letting them cool completely and wrapping in two layers of plastic wrap before freezing.
No, they are actually quite different. The biggest difference is that Danish pastry contains yeast as the leavening agent, while puff pastry uses steam to rise and expand. Danish pastry also contains an egg, making it much more bready than puff pastry, which is distinctively light and flaky.
You could absolutely make your own Danish pastry as a substitute for the puff pastry in this raspberry danish recipe. However, the convenience of frozen puff pastry is hard to pass up!
Serving Suggestions
I love to serve these for brunch along with similar puff pastry recipes like my Puff Pastry Apple Turnovers or my Chocolate Puff Pastry.
They also make a wonderful dessert served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream after a meal of Instant Pot Chicken Pot Pie or my Zesty Italian Pasta Salad.
If you enjoyed this recipe, I'd really appreciate a star rating and a comment or tag me on instagram @marcellina.in.cucina.
Either way, I love to hear from you!
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Raspberry Danish Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 sheets frozen puff pastry
- ¼ cup raspberry jam
- 1 cup fresh raspberries 125 grams
- 8 ounces cream cheese ( room temperature) 250 grams
- ¼ cup powdered sugar increase if you like sweeter
- 1 egg yolk reserve the egg white to brush on before baking
- 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Icing
- ½ cup powdered sugar sieved
- 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Thaw puff pastry according to manufactures instructions.
- Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC) and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine raspberry jam and fresh raspberries.
- Using an electric mixer (or a wooden spoon), beat the cream cheese with the powdered sugar, egg yolk, lemon zest and vanilla extract until creamy and well combined. Set aside.
- Cut the thawed but still cool puff pastry into squares approximately 5 x 5 inches (12 ½ x 12 ½ cm).
- Fold each of the corners in to meet in the center and press the corners down so that the dough sticks firmly. Prick the center of each with a fork several times. Repeat with all the dough - you should have 12 folded squares.
- Arrange pastry squares on prepared baking sheets allowing room for puffing and slight spreading.
- Brush each lightly with beaten reserved egg white.
- Place a generous spoonful of cream cheese filling into the center of each pastry then top with raspberry and jam topping. Distribute evenly to use up all of the filling and topping.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and puffed.
- Cool on wire racks.
- When cool, drizzle with prepared icing.
Icing
- Sieve the powdered sugar to remove any lumps.
- Combine in a small bowl with 2 teaspoons lemon juice. Add a little more until the icing is of a drizzling consistency.
Notes
- Preheat the oven.
- Use cool, thawed puff pastry. Don't allow the puff pastry to become too warm.
- Avoid using too much filling. Overfilling the pastries will cause the filling to spill over the sides - delicious but not pretty.
Nutrition
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