Cheese Danish

4.16 from 25 votes

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This Cheese Danish recipe will blow your socks off! It’s not only so easy but also SO delicious and drizzled with icing on top! Made with a can of crescent rolls and a block of cream cheese, this tasty breakfast or dessert will quickly become a favorite. While you’re making pastry desserts, you have to try my Apple Turnover! It’s amaaaaazing!

Cheese Danish cut and styled on a plate

Why You’ll Love This Recipe!

This is truly the easiest and simplest Cheese Danish recipe! Warm, sweet and flaky soft…doesn’t get much better than that! Whether you want to make this the night before for a special breakfast, or share it with friends and family for dessert, it’s one you’ll keep coming back to. It’s easily customizable too! Try adding a fruit filling on top of the cream cheese filling!

sliced cheese danish on a serving spatula

Aren’t Danishes Typically Made with Puff Pastry?

Yes, yes they are. Puff Pastry dough is made with flour, water and butter. It’s then rolled out and folded several times creating layers. When it’s baked, it creates air pockets within the layers which makes the light and flaky pastry. Crescent roll dough is made with similar ingredients plus sugar making it a bit sweeter, but still has that light and flaky texture that we all love in a danish or other pastries. I used crescent roll dough for this recipe because honestly it’s what I had on hand. I found that it was a bit easier to work with and it turned out great too!

How to Make a Cheese Danish

For full recipe details, including ingredients needed and measurements, see the printable recipe card down below. Here is step by step what you can expect when making this recipe:

cheese danish ingredients

Preheat Oven + Combine Filling Ingredients Together in a Bowl

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour, and vanilla. Set aside.

Lay Out Crescent Dough on Baking Sheet

Pop open crescent roll dough and unroll, leaving crescents in rectangles. On an ungreased baking sheet, lay the crescent roll rectangles together, lining them up width wise. The dough should be almost the entire length of a half sheet pan. Press edges together to even out edges and seal any holes.

Add Cream Cheese Filling

Carefully spread cream cheese filling down the center of the dough to be about 2-3 inches wide.

Next, cut 1/2 inch diagonal strips up each side of the dough. Fold 1/2 inch dough pieces 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

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until filling is set and the crescent dough is golden in color. Cool before removing from the baking sheet.

Make the Icing

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, Cut + Serve!

Drizzle icing over danish. Cut into pieces and serve.

Storing Leftover Cheese Danish

Any leftover Cheese 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.

Freezing

Unfortunately, this cheese 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 airtight 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 airtight 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.

cheese danish on a tablescape

Make-Ahead Directions

Thankfully this cheese 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.

  1. First, follow the directions as normal and stop before baking!
  2. Make some room in your fridge because now you can take your whole baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.
  3. Keep in your refrigerator for up to two days.
  4. 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!

Cheese Danish Variations

Check out my other versions of this Danish recipe, they are SO good!

cheese danish on a plate

More Sweet Pastries to Try!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do. It’s perfect for breakfast or dessert! I’d love for you to give a star-rating and tell me what you think in the comments! The printable recipe card is below, enjoy friends!

Cheese Danish cut and styled on a plate
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4.16 from 25 votes

Cheese Danish

This Cheese Danish will blow your socks off! It's not only so easy but also so SO delicious and drizzled with icing on top!
servings 8 Servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

Icing:

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, flour and vanilla. Set aside.
    cream cheese filling
  • Pop open crescent roll dough and unroll, leaving crescents in rectangles. On an ungreased baking sheet, lay the crescent roll rectangles together, lining them up width wise. Dough should be almost the entire length of a half sheet pan.
    crescent dough on a baking sheet
  • Press edges together to even out edges and seal any holes. Carefully spread cream cheese filling down the center of the dough to be about 2-3 inches wide. Cut 1/2 inch diagonal strips up each side of the dough. Fold 1/2 inch dough pieces 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 20-30 minutes or until filling is set and crescent dough is golden in color. Cool before removing from baking sheet.
    woman's hands criss crossing the cut pieces towards the center
  • Once danish has cooled, remove to 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.
    drizzling icing over danish
  • Cut into pieces and serve.
    sliced cheese danish on a plate

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 32g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 130mg | Potassium: 44mg | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 435IU | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 0.3mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: cheese danish, cheese danish recipe, Cream Cheese Danish
4.16 from 25 votes (25 ratings without comment)

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87 Responses
  1. Easy Blackberry Cheese Danish | Lauren's Latest

    […] originally created the Easy Cheese Danish last December which got rave reviews and is pretty simple, in and of itself. But, once I went […]

    1. Lauren

      It depends now much pie filling you want to add. If you only want a little bit swirled in with the cream cheese, then I wouldn’t change the increments, but if you’d want more than 1/3-1/2 cup, then I’d probably halve it.

  2. Lisa

    5 stars
    Made this today with the edition of sugar free strawberry jelly on top and replaced sugar with spenda baking substitute. Came out perfect. The kids loved it too! Thanks.

  3. Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Danish | Lauren's Latest

    […] on–> These danishes of mine are quite the popular recipes. First came the original Easy Cheese Danish. Then it was the Blackberry Cheese Danish. Then it was the Pumpkin Cream Cheese Danish and today, I […]

  4. Cliff Medeiros

    5 stars
    I have made this many times and it’s ALWAYS a big hit and will continue to make it . You can also add fruits of your choosing like blueberry , strawberries, I have even taken a part of my pumpkin pie recipe and layered it in with the cream cheese to make a pumpkin cheese Danish …. it’s the best !! Love it !!

    1. Jeanie

      I see that you didn’t get a response. Did you try freezing this danish anyway? If so, did it work? I would like to make this and freeze it for future use. Thanks!

      1. Lauren

        You can make this, bake a freeze if desired. You won’t want to freeze this before baking, as cream cheese completely changes textures after defrosting.

  5. Leslie Kim Bock

    5 stars
    I have made this with almond paste and cream cheese and lemon and cream cheese cherry and cream cheese I’ve also made these and put eggs and bacon and cheese and baked it like that very good for breakfast you can do wonders with this croissant dough

  6. Dieselle

    5 stars
    Made this for Father’s Day. It was devoured! Declared dangerous , in a decadent way! Thanks for the recipe, will be making it again

  7. Christen Femiani

    5 stars
    This is my mother-in-law’s favorite! She asks me to make it for her ALL the time. So simple, yet so tasty!

  8. Christen Femiani

    5 stars
    Your version of this recipe has become a family favorite staple! My mother-in-law asks for me to make this ALL the time! So simple and easy to make! Thank you.

  9. Cecilia Bobrek

    5 stars
    I made this for Thanksgiving breakfast. I added half a can of pumpkin. This was better than anything one can find in a grocery store. I ended up making two because the first was eaten for desert. It was almost too good to be true. I will definitely make this again, and trying different fruits and variations with it. Thank you for such an easy recipe.

  10. Juliet

    5 stars
    Just made this for a work potluck. Added chocolate chips to one and raspberries to the other and they look amazing!! I haven’t had the chance to taste them yet, but I’m really excited to share with my coworkers tomorrow.

    I’m really impressed with how easy these were. Thanks for sharing the recipe! Xo

  11. joony

    5 stars
    Excellent recipe!
    I added 1 tsp lemon juice to the filling. Baking time in my oven is about 15 minutes. Everybody loves it.
    Thank you!!

  12. Sally Anderson

    5 stars
    I have made this three times so far.I have made danish from scratch and with puff pastry,but this is cheaper and just as good. This morning I toasted some almonds and put them in the filling and sprinkled some on top.Thanks for this go to recipe.

  13. Easy Pumpkin Danish - Crazy for Crust

    […] Pumpkin Nutella Doughnuts by Something Swanky Apple Pie Danish by Chocolate, Chocolate, and More Easy Cheese Danish by Lauren’s […]

  14. Kim

    5 stars
    I have added peanut butter and chocolate chips and cut the dough into cookies. They were fantastic. Cant wait to try it as a danish. Thanks

  15. Elic

    I’ll pass on the icing – allergic to the corn starch in the powdered sugar, but going to give this a shot – not much of a cook, but I love danishes and can’t eat the commercial ones because of the icings…

  16. Candice

    5 stars
    I realize that this is an old post, but just wanted to let you know I made this today. I also added some chopped apples (that I microwaved and drained the juice) on top of the cheese. Oh wow. This is so good. Thank you for taking the time to show all of the steps. Whenever I’m looking for a recipe, I do an image search, and yours was the winner. Thanks again.

  17. Jenni C

    5 stars
    I just made this today because I’ve been craving cheese danish the past 2 weeks. Gotta love pregnancy cravings! I had a sliver of it while it was still warm and it’s AMAZING. I love how it’s so simple to make. My pregnant sister snagged a chunk of it as well…we are in heaven.

  18. Olivia

    5 stars
    I made this but used almond extract instead of vanilla and it was wonderful!!! 🙂 Thanks for posting such an easy, yet impressive, danish! Yum!

  19. krissyw

    5 stars
    I always tried making cheese Danish recipes that called for egg in the cream cheese mixture and was never happy w the results. This recipe was perfect! I mixed in a big spoonful of store bought lemon curd w filling and turned out great.

  20. Joni

    5 stars
    This recipe is amazing! Thank you for your time and effort, you truly make cooking fun versus a horrendous expedition! I love flipping through your recipe index! If you haven’t tried this Danish recipe yet, please get to it! Way too delicious to miss!

  21. Day 254 – August 27 « Learning each and every day

    […] Pinterest I’d been wanting to try with that as the main ingredient, so I picked them up. This danish recipe from the blog Lauren’s latest was the one I’d been thinking of. The verdict? […]

  22. Cheese Danish | iBake

    […] adapted from: Lauren’s Latest Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Posted in […]

  23. Leslie

    5 stars
    I’ve made this danish twice in the last 2 weeks. I saw it on Pinterest and since cheese danish is my teenager’s favorite sweet breakfast, I just had to make it for him. He thought this one was the best he’s ever had! Tonight I made one as an after-dinner treat, and my husband ate half of it, LOL. It really is delicious, and it’s so easy to make. Thanks for such an awesome recipe! 🙂

    1. Rita Leanna

      Heavy cream is in the dairy isle, they have light cream for coffee etc, but heavy cream is for whipping and used for pies like chocolate cream, or banana cream.
      hope this helps.

  24. rome

    5 stars
    holy yum! i JUST made this and it is out of this world!!! if i didn’t have my husband coming home soon and my brother and his girlfriend over, i might just end up eating the whole thing. wow! delicious!

  25. Gisela

    5 stars
    Hey Lauren! Just made this today and they are delish!! I’m taking a big huge bit right now as I am typing this (good thing I went to the gym this morning). Mine oozed out a bit too, but that’s probably because I over stuffed them. Oh, and I added some fresh lemon juice and zest to the glaze. Thanks for sharing!

  26. Debbie

    Hi Lauren,
    I tried this recipe last night and then again today.
    My attempts were not so good. On the first one all of the cream cheese filling oozed out of the dough. Today I tried using a rolling pin on the dough to flatten a little more, which seemed to work but the top braided area pulled apart exposing the filling. It all still tasted good but the appearance was not so good. I think I will try puff pastry next time. Or maybe you could give me some insight as to what I may be doing wrong ? I do love the filling for this recipe. I added some strawberry syrup to the one I made this morning.

    1. Sandy Blue

      5 stars
      I use puff pastry and fill ot with cream cheese and cherry pie filling . all i do is lay thetwo sides over one another then crimp the ends. The filling never oozes out and it. Makes a yummy danish or strudel.

  27. Avril

    Ahhhhhhh….I just love a good danish! Your recipe looks so “do-able” and super yummy too! 🙂

    Sorry to hear that you got the cold bug! Wishing you a speedy recovery.

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