I am going to give you the original cheese danish recipe. Then, we are going to make them again using a different method for sealing the puff pastry. So let's get started.
You want to zest just the outer yellow skin of the lemon, not the pithy white layer.
We need one tablespoon of lemon zest for the recipe. You should get that from two large lemons. If you buy the lemons in a bag, which are generally very small, you may need three or four lemons to get one tablespoon of zest.
Start the filling with eight ounces of cream cheese, cubed, at room temperature and one-third cup sugar.
Cream together using an electric mixer until smooth.
Next, you need two extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature.
Place the egg whites into a sealed container for use later. You could use them to make Turkey Puff Sandwiches which we will be talking about very soon.
And you will need two tablespoons ricotta cheese.
Add the two egg yolks, ricotta cheese, one teaspoon pure vanilla extract, one-quarter teaspoon salt and the lemon zest to the mixture and mix until combined.
Once this is thoroughly combined, I remove it to a crock and place it in the refrigerator until ready to fill the puff pastry.
Now we are moving on to the puff pastry. Do not try to make it yourself. It's not worth all the time and headache. This Pepperidge Farm puff pastry is perfectly wonderful. Remove it from the freezer and leave it on the countertop to thaw for about 30 minutes before you start this recipe.
Lightly flour a board.
Unfold one sheet of puff pastry onto the lightly floured board. You see in this picture we had a little "dimple." It's OK. Try to stretch it out to make it as close to a perfect square as you can. Nothing in life is perfect.
A dimension between ten-by-ten and eleven-by-eleven will do.
Cut the sheet into quarters.
Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling in the middle of each square.
Combine one egg with one tablespoon water.
Whisk together thoroughly.
Grab your pastry brush and brush the border of each pastry with this egg wash. Then fold the two opposite corners to the center corner. Brush and overlap the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together.
When you are done with all four, it should look something like this. I used my index finger to seal each pastry. Once done with that, brush the entire thing with the egg wash and place the pastries on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry. After all the pastries have been made and washed with egg wash, place the trays into the refrigerator for 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Bake for about 20 minutes. Rotate the pans once during baking.
And a second sheet of four delicious cheese danish. You see the one in the lower right corner did not seal properly. It's OK.
Below are several pictures of how they looked, stacked on a glass pedestal with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top. No narrative is necessary.
A final note. These were delicious. But I want to make them again using a pastry cutter/sealer. I'll use the same filling recipe but the pastry will be formed differently. Be sure to come back and see how they turn out. Everyone have a great weekend!
First thing to do is to find your microplaner and zest two lemons.
You want to zest just the outer yellow skin of the lemon, not the pithy white layer.
We need one tablespoon of lemon zest for the recipe. You should get that from two large lemons. If you buy the lemons in a bag, which are generally very small, you may need three or four lemons to get one tablespoon of zest.
Start the filling with eight ounces of cream cheese, cubed, at room temperature and one-third cup sugar.
Cream together using an electric mixer until smooth.
Next, you need two extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature.
Place the egg whites into a sealed container for use later. You could use them to make Turkey Puff Sandwiches which we will be talking about very soon.
And you will need two tablespoons ricotta cheese.
Add the two egg yolks, ricotta cheese, one teaspoon pure vanilla extract, one-quarter teaspoon salt and the lemon zest to the mixture and mix until combined.
Once this is thoroughly combined, I remove it to a crock and place it in the refrigerator until ready to fill the puff pastry.
Now we are moving on to the puff pastry. Do not try to make it yourself. It's not worth all the time and headache. This Pepperidge Farm puff pastry is perfectly wonderful. Remove it from the freezer and leave it on the countertop to thaw for about 30 minutes before you start this recipe.
Lightly flour a board.
Unfold one sheet of puff pastry onto the lightly floured board. You see in this picture we had a little "dimple." It's OK. Try to stretch it out to make it as close to a perfect square as you can. Nothing in life is perfect.
I used a wooden rolling pin to roll it out a bit and to get it uniform in size. It ended up being eleven by eleven.
A dimension between ten-by-ten and eleven-by-eleven will do.
Cut the sheet into quarters.
Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling in the middle of each square.
Combine one egg with one tablespoon water.
Whisk together thoroughly.
Grab your pastry brush and brush the border of each pastry with this egg wash. Then fold the two opposite corners to the center corner. Brush and overlap the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together.
And a short while later, this is what you will have. Once sheet of four delicious cheese danish.
And a second sheet of four delicious cheese danish. You see the one in the lower right corner did not seal properly. It's OK.
Below are several pictures of how they looked, stacked on a glass pedestal with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top. No narrative is necessary.
A final note. These were delicious. But I want to make them again using a pastry cutter/sealer. I'll use the same filling recipe but the pastry will be formed differently. Be sure to come back and see how they turn out. Everyone have a great weekend!
