Cheese Danish

Tammy
Feb 21
5 min read

Updated: Aug 11

Influenced by Northern East Coast Bakeries

"This Cheese Danish is an easy recipe to make for breakfast this weekend! Grab a can of refrigerated crescent rolls, cream cheese and your favorite fruit filling and let's make some tummies happy!"

🥐💛 Cheese Danish (Semi-Homemade & Totally Delicious!) ☺️

Let’s take a moment to appreciate the glory of the Cheese Danish. But not just any cheese danish—we’re talking flaky, golden, bakery-style cheese danishes that are semi-homemade, totally drool-worthy, and surprisingly easy to make at home. 😍✨

These little pastries look like they came straight out of a fancy bakery in the Little Italy area of Rhode Island or a cozy café in Cape Cod… but guess what? No puff pastry, no stress, and no pastry chef degree required. You’re about to learn how to make something that will wow your family, impress your brunch guests, and become a regular in your baking rotation.

🥐 Why You’ll Love These Danishes

Semi-homemade = low effort, high reward 🙌
Taste like they came from a fancy bakery 🏙️
Endless topping options – sweet, fruity, tangy, chocolatey… whatever you love! 🍓🍫🍋
Great for Mother’s Day, brunches, overnight guests, or just a “treat yourself” kind of morning
Makes your kitchen smell incredible while they bake! 🥰

☕ Perfect for Brunch, Mother’s Day & More

💕 These semi-homemade cheese danishes are truly the perfect brunch treat. Whether you're hosting a baby shower, prepping for Easter morning, or surprising mom on Mother’s Day with breakfast in bed, these little pastries bring the wow factor without any of the stress.

They’re also super fun to make with kids, and everyone can customize their own toppings. It’s a full-blown activity and a delicious reward at the end!

💕 My Favorite Flavor Combos

These pastries are totally customizable. Here are a few flavor combos I’m obsessed with:

Raspberry + Cream Cheese (my personal go-to!)
Lemon Curd + Cherry – sweet, tangy, and super springy 🌸
Classic Cream Cheese with Vanilla Glaze
Blueberry + Lemon 🍋🫐
Chocolate + Cream Cheese (yes, it’s a thing… and it’s amazing)

Top them with a little powdered sugar or that irresistible sugary drizzle and you’re golden. ✨

I know the idea of “homemade pastries” might sound intimidating, but I promise—you can totally do this. These danishes are doable, delicious, and guaranteed to make you feel like a pastry queen (or king!). 👑

So grab your dough, pick your toppings, and make a batch of these fabulous Cheese Danishes. Don’t forget to take a picture before they disappear—because they will disappear. Fast. 😋

And if you try them, I’d love to hear your favorite flavor combo! 💬

Cheese Danish

Servings – 8 Prep Time – 10 Min Chill Time: 20 Min

Cook Time – 15-18 Min

Ingredients:

Danish:

1 can of refrigerated crescent rolls.
1/4 cup your favorite jam or preserves or 1 cup of your favorite pie filling, optional - you can make these as plain cheese, or check out the other filling options I have listed below.
8 ounces cream cheese; softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
2 -4 teaspoons milk

Directions:

Danish:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchemnt paper; set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla together until smooth. Set aside while you prepare the crescent rolls.

Open the package of crescent rolls, but do not separate or unroll them. Keep them as a long cylinder or roll.

Using a serrated knife, to slice the long cylinder of dough into 8 equal pieces.

Using your thumb or the back of a scoop/spoon, gently indent the middle of each circle so there is a space for the cream cheese mixture to be placed inside.

Place a tablespoonful of the cream cheese mixture into the center of each crescent circle. Slightly pressing down and indenting the center for the fruit filling or jam.

Place 2 teaspoonfuls of the jam or pie filling on top.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 15-18 minutes.

Remove from oven, let sit for 5 minutes and place danish on a cooling rack. Place your cooling rack back in your pan to catch the drizzle and make clean up easier!

Glaze:

While the danish are baking prepare the glaze.

In a bowl mix powdered sugar and 2 teaspoons of milk. Mix until smooth. Add each additional teaspoon of milk to reach the consistancy you would like. I prefer a thicker glaze for the line drizzle. It will run off less and give a sweetness to your danish.

Once your danish are completely cooled, drizzle with the glaze using a fork in a sweeping motion letting it "spill" over the danish. This is where putting the rack back on the pan helps with clean up!

Let your danish drizzle dry for about 20 minutes or until solid.

Place in a pretty cake dish to serve, or airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Notes:

Flavor Options:

You can leave out the cream cheese filling and just use fruit.

Canned pie fillings - Strawberry, blueberry, apple, lemon, cherry, raspberry, peach, Any homemade pie filling would work as well.

Jam/Preserves - Orange, peach, boysenberry, raspberry, apple, strawberry, apricot, plum and many more.

Curds - Lemon, key-lime, grapefruit, orange, blackcurrant, toffee apple, ginger, and passion fruit.

Ganache/Frostings - Chocolate, orange chocolate, white chocolate and or caramel, Nutella, buttercream, whipped cream or Bavarian cream.

Savory - Rosemary, feta and caramelized onions, sage and lemon.

You can also mix and match many of the combinations above, the possibilities are endless!

🌟 CWT Pro Tips:

Use room temperature cream cheese for the smoothest filling.
Add a teaspoon of lemon zest to the filling for an extra flavor boost! 🍋
Let the danishes cool for 5–10 minutes before glazing so the drizzle doesn’t melt right off.
These are best the day they’re made, but you can store leftovers in the fridge for up to 2 days and reheat in a toaster oven or microwave!

Have left over fillings? You can store your leftover pie filling in the freezer for up to 3 months. It also makes a great topping for homemade pancakes or.... just make more danish! 😉💜🤣

Nutrition:

This website is the project of an unpaid hobby, fully maintained and supported by CWT. There are NO paid affiliations, professional photographers, nutritionists or paid product reviews associated. CWT is not a certified artist, dietician or nutritionist. Any nutritional information shared on this site is an estimate counted through measurements and package nutritional information used in each recipe at that given time. If calorie, macro counting and other nutritional values are important to you and your health, CWT recommends running the ingredients through your choice of nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can and will vary depending on national brands used per recipe. Anything created by using CWT's recipes, or tutorials is fully the readers responsibility. CWT is not responsible or will be held liable for the outcome of the readers completed project or recipe(s).