Pineapple Cheesecake Danish

evelyn/athens's Note:

Danish pastries - hot from the oven - are a great breakfast or brunch treat, and this version is fast and easy. The cardamom and cinnamon-scented cheese filling is delectable, and the yummy, sunshiney-yellow pineapple topping is show-stoppingly good!!!

• Total Time: 35 mins
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 8 pastries

Pineapple Topping

• 1 (1 lb) can crushed pineapple, well drained
• 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

Cheesecake filling

• 6 ounces cream cheese
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 egg yolk (white will be used for brushing over assembled pastry)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Glaze

• 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 -2 teaspoon orange juice or 1 -2 teaspoon milk

Pastry

• 1 (8 ounce) can crescent roll dough

Directions:

1. To make Pineapple Topping: Empty crushed pineapple into a small saucepan; add orange zest, honey and corn starch and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes, or until pineapple mixture is very thick. Remove from heat and cool completely. (Can be prepared up to 1 day ahead. Refrigerate until ready to use).
2. To make Cheesecake Filling: Beat all the filling ingredients to combine well.
3. To assemble: Tear the pastry squares along the perforations so that you have 4 rectangles (do NOT separate the rectangles into crescents) and place on baking pan or cookie pan lined with parchment paper or silpat. Cut each rectangle down the middle so you have 8 squares. Divide the cheesecake filling evenly amongst the squares, dolloping it into the centre of each square and flattening it somewhat lengthwise so that filling is stretched down the pastry square, and not just blobbed in the middle. Don't bring it too close to the edges as it may leak out while baking. Over the cheesecake filling, distribute the pineapple topping evenly. Bring opposite corners of pastry in, slightly overlapping one corner over the other, to create Danish. Brush pastries with reserved egg white.
4. Preheat oven to 375°F Bake pastries for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Watch carefully after the first 10 minutes, if the pastry appears to be getting too dark, loosely cover with aluminum foil and continue baking.
5. For Glaze: In a bowl, combine confectioner's sugar, vanilla and enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Drizzle over top of pastries.
6. Enjoy!

Reviews

[Larawithoutau]

Beautiful! I went ahead & used the full 8 oz of cream cheese, omitted the spices & added a bit of lemon juice to the cream cheese as I am a traditionalist with my cheesecake filling. I found that brushing both the pastry & the cream cheese filling helped to contain it a little better. I also covered them with foil 10 minutes into baking, otherwise the pastry would've burned. Lastly, I sprinkled with toasted coconut instead of the glaze, they looked so pretty. Thanks so much for sharing, it put the leftover pineapple from the Cheesecake Factory Carrot Cake Cheesecake to good use and we will be making these again for sure!***Update*** we decided that the danish needed a glaze afterall, so I made a quick citrus glaze and it really seemed to round out the pastry flavors. I may have drained my pineapple a bit too well, as it seemed a little dry, so next time I'll take that into consideration.

[swissms]

Delicious! I have made these a few times now. The first time I made as written except reduced the cardamom to 1/4 teaspoon and omitted the glaze. Very good as written, however, I have since cheated a bit and instead of making the pineapple topping, I have used purchased pineapple preserves which makes this recipe a breeze to put together. I have also used both plain cream cheese and pineapple cream cheese on different occasions and both are very good. They are addicting...very hard to only eat one! Thanks for sharing the recipe.

[Darkhunter]

This recipe is really close to the one that I fell in love with. It was made by Chef Pierre at the original MGM in Las Vegas, NV which would probably be about 1980. (Yes, the one that caused all the changes in hotel construction.) These are so easy to make, they will be made often. Thnx for sharing your recipe, ev. Made for the Voracious Vagabonds of ZWT 6.