Chocolate Cream Cheese Danish

Name: Chocolate Cream Cheese Danish
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 1 tube crescent rolls; 8 oz. cream cheese; 1/2 cup granulated sugar; 2 tablespoons all purpose flour; 1 teaspoon vanilla; 2 oz. chopped semi sweet dark chocolate (such as Scharffen Berger); 1/2 cup powdered sugar; 1 teaspoon milk

5 from 11 votes

13 comments

August 15, 2018

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This Chocolate Cream Cheese Danish is so simple to make and looks incredible! Topped with a sugar glaze, you’ll be wanting more and more!

I was compensated to create this cream cheese danish recipe for Scharffen Berger Chocolate Maker. All opinions expressed are completely my own, as per usual 🙂

Chocolate Danish Recipe

Today’s Chocolate Danish recipe is probably THE MOST uncomplicated recipe you could throw together that gets the biggest reactions from friends and family. It takes minutes to throw together and looks amazing! It’s a perfect menu item to serve at a brunch, baby shower, bridal shower, or for any old breakfast if you happen to like sweet things. And, it’s a cinch to make. Simplicity at its finest, folks.

Main Ingredients Needed

A super easy sweet breakfast or dessert, this Chocolate Danish will knock your socks off. Here’s everything you’ll need to make it:

Crescent Rolls – this is what I used and it worked so well! If you want to use puff pastry, feel free to!
Cream Cheese – tangy, creamy goodness.
Granulated Sugar – to sweeten, of course.
Chocolate – I used 3 ounces of a Scharffen Berger Semi-Sweet Dark Chocolate bar {62% Cacao}.
All-Purpose Flour – this helps stabilize the filling.
Powdered Sugar, Milk, and Vanilla Extract – the icing is optional but heavily recommended!

How to Make Chocolate Danish

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, and vanilla. Set aside.
Pop open crescent roll dough and unroll, leaving crescents in rectangles. On a piece of parchment paper {or an ungreased baking sheet}, unroll crescent dough being sure to not separate any of the triangular pieces. Press edges together and pinches any holes back together. The dough should be almost the entire length of a half sheet pan.
Carefully spread cream cheese filling down the center of the dough to be about 2-3 inches wide. Sprinkle cream cheese filling with chopped chocolate. Cut 1-inch diagonal strips up each side of the dough. Fold slats of dough up over filling alternating sides to get a braided pattern. You may have excess dough once you reach the end of the danish, so fold them in as best as you can.
Bake for 20 minutes or until filling is set and the crescent dough is golden in color. Cool before removing from the baking sheet.

Glaze

Feel free to eat your Chocolate Danish as is or add a simple glaze.

Once danish has cooled, remove to a serving platter. In a small bowl, mix together powdered sugar, vanilla, and cream to create icing. You may need to add more cream to get the desired consistency.
Drizzle icing over danish. Cut into pieces and serve.

I waited about 10 minutes after glazing before cutting and serving–> I wanted the glaze to have a chance to set a little bit to keep the danish on the prettier side.

If this is of no interest to you, feel free to shovel it in immediately out of the oven. I won’t judge.

Leftover Chocolate Danish

Any leftover Chocolate Danish should be refrigerated, covered, for up to a week! This is no store-bought danish where it can sit out. No crazy preservatives here, so be sure to refrigerate.

Make-Ahead

Thankfully this chocolate danish recipe is super easy to make ahead. This is great to save you even more time! Whether you are making this the night ahead for breakfast in the morning or for dessert the next day you can follow these easy steps.

First, follow the directions as normal and stop before baking!
Make some room in your fridge because now you can take your whole baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.
Keep in your refrigerator for up to two days.
When ready to bake, pull it out of your fridge and let the danish get to room temperature. Then bake as you normally would! Enjoy!

Freezing?

Unfortunately, this chocolate danish does not freeze well. This is because the cream cheese filling will change textures when frozen then thawed again. It becomes less of a creamy filling and more of a crumbly texture. Ew.

But if you want to make this danish recipe without the cream cheese filling you can freeze it (baked or unbaked).

Unbaked. Prepare recipe completely up to the point of baking. Place the unbaked danish on the parchment-lined baking sheet in the freezer for a few hours until frozen. Once frozen, remove from the baking sheet and place it into an air-tight container. Return to the freezer for up to two months!

You can bake the danish straight from the freezer. Give it an extra 15-20 minutes to bake and watch closely!

Baked. Cool the danish completely then place in an air-tight container. It can last for up to two weeks in the freezer. When ready to serve, remove from the freezer and let thaw in the fridge overnight. To heat the danish up place in the oven until heated through. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

More Cheese Danish Recipes to Try!

In case you’re wondering, this Chocolate Danish was pure HEAVEN!

Printable recipe below 🙂

Enjoy, friends!

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5 from 11 votes