Easy Breakfast Cheese Danish Recipe With Crescent Rolls Dough - Recipes & Me (2024)

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Most of the time we eat a healthy breakfast. Our staple daily favorites rotate around egg bake, and roasted vegetables, and berry bake. But once in a while, especially on weekends, we enjoy this easy breakfast cheese danish for breakfast and snacks.

This crescent roll cheese danish disappears quickly, so it’s a good thing it’s super simple to make.

If you have kids, this is also a kid-friendly recipe to make together, and soon you’ll be able to delegate it to them as one of their things to make for everyone. It’s a quick one to learn by heart, so by the second time you make it, you may not even need to pull up the recipe.

Tips and Toppings

For a shortcut to making sauce toppings, you can use ready made preserves, jams, syrups, custard, and pie fillings to add more flavors and delight. Even better, add a few sprinkles of the actual fruit. E.g., if you use raspberry jam, add a few fresh raspberries, and even a drizzle of raspberry syrup! YUMMY and looks like gourmet fair.

Add Fruit Toppings and Filling

  • You can top the cream cheese mixture with your choice of fruit spreads before adding the top layer of dough.
  • Swirl syrup (e.g., blueberry, strawberry or chocolate) into the creamy batter for additional flavor and streaks of color.
  • Add flavors to your cream cheese batter, such as lemon curd for a lemon cream cheese danish.

Create Openings for Cream Cheese to Rise

We ended up with one package of solid crescent dough sheets and one package of the perforated triangle sheets. Subsequently, we discovered it works well to use the solid sheet crescent dough sheets for the first layer and the triangle sheets for the top.

You can open up the top layer a little to allow the cream cheese to bubble up. Just use a pizza cutter or knife to open the perforated dough top sheet just a little, (just a quarter to half inch opening at each perforation will allow the cream cheese to bubble up in between).

Reduced Sugar Options

  • Omit the glaze and it’s still delicious!
  • Substitute sugar in batter with maple sugar. The color will be more beige like the sugar. We organic maple sugar (powdered or crystals).
  • Create a fruit syrup or chocolate syrup instead of confectioner sugar glaze, using maple syrup or honey to sweeten.

Reduced Fat Option

  • Use low fat cream cheese.
  • Use half the cheese sugar batter for a lighter, thinner pastry.

Keep Crescent Dough Refrigerated

Keeping the crescent dough refrigerated until ready to use will keep it from getting sticky and hard to work with.

Easy Breakfast Cheese Danish Recipe With Crescent Rolls Dough - Recipes & Me (1)

Easy Breakfast Cheese Danish Recipe

This super simple and easy breakfast cheese danish recipe will satisfy your sweet tooth craving without keeping you in the kitchen for too long.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Additional Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 20 minutes mins

Ingredients

  • 2 cans ready to use refrigerated crescent rolls
  • 2 packages 8-ounce packages cream cheese
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg white + 1 Tbsp milk or water
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar for glaze
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract for glaze
  • 2 tbsp milk for glaze

Instructions

  • Sit cream cheese out to begin softening.

  • Preheat oven to 350* degrees

  • Grease a 13X9-inch baking pan. We like to use coconut oil.

  • Lay crescent roll sheet in the pan, pushing the dough gently out to the edges.

  • Beat together the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and egg until smooth.

  • Spread the mixture over the crescent rolls evenly.

  • Top cheese mixture with second pack of crescent rolls dough.

  • Brush with egg wash (egg white + 1 Tbsp milk or water)

  • Bake for 35-45 minutes until the top is golden brown

  • Cool for ~20 minutes, while you make the glaze. Drizzle and brush on cooled danish.

Notes

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Healthier Tweaks, if You Must 😉

If you want a treat but would like to modify the sugar and fat content a little, there are substitutions you can make that also work well. We often use substitutions to reduce sugar and improve nutrition without sacrificing delight.

For a Lighter Cheese Danish

For a lighter, less dense danish, you can use half the amount of cream cheese filling. Just halve all but the egg ingredients as well and it’s still very good. You can also choose low fat cream cheese. However, it will be more pastry and less filling, so we favor the full amount.

If you use the half filling method, it will probably bake in less time, more like 30-35 minutes.

Or just go all out and enjoy your treat! 😋

Easy Breakfast Cheese Danish Recipe With Crescent Rolls Dough - Recipes & Me (2)

More Tips on Making Easy Cheese Danish – Contributions from the Community

Cheese Danish With Buttery Sweet Cinnamon and Nut Topping

Have made this for years. I do not put any glaze on it. My recipe has soft butter, sugar, cinnamon and nuts – I use pecans – mix together and sprinkle on top before baking.
~Judy

Cheese Danish With Strawberry Cream Cheese

I made this treat for Christmas Day brunch. I used an 8×8 baking dish and used the same amount of cream cheese except I used one container of regular cream cheese and one container of strawberry cream cheese.

It turned out amazing and very much enjoyed it. Because of the extra cream cheese in the smaller dish, I baked it for the same time as mentioned above. Actually used my Ninja Smart Foodi XL Pro Air Oven to bake it, I mean super duper yummy. Thanks for the recipe and I hope everyone gives it a try at least once.
~Kevin Hutcheson

Easy Breakfast Cheese Danish Recipe With Crescent Rolls Dough - Recipes & Me (3)

More Delicious Breakfast Recipes to Enjoy

  • Buttermilk blueberry breakfast cake – perfect with a cup of coffee
  • Overnight French toast casserole – wicked good and uber simple, with blueberries and cream cheese, our newest favorite easy breakfast treat or snack.

Savory Breakfast Recipes

  • Easy breakfast casserole – easy and quick; make on Sunday or Monday for several days of breakfast at the ready… like an square omelette.
  • Breakfast quesadillas – this is for when you don’t want a sweet breakfast.
  • – roasted sweet potatoes with “baked” eggs.
Easy Breakfast Cheese Danish Recipe With Crescent Rolls Dough - Recipes & Me (4)

FAQ

Can You Freeze Cheese Danish?

Love that you’re planning ahead, and yes you can freeze this cheese Danish recipe! Here are several ideas for freezing cheese danish:

  1. Freeze before cooking, then sit at room temp for approximately 1 hour before baking. If you have time to do it this way, it allows the work to be done in advance but then the baking to happen before serving time so that it’s freshly hot plus aromatic.
  2. Freeze after cooking, tightly sealed in airtight container or wrapping. Defrost in fridge overnight, or at room temp for an hour or so before heating or serving cold.

Can You Make Multi-Layered Cheese Danish?

Yes, just bake each layer for 5 minutes before covering it.

So… to make this cheese danish in layers, you can simply double (or triple, etc), the recipe and repeat the layers. You may want to bake the first layer for approximately five to ten minutes before adding the second layer of cream cheese batter followed by the top layer of dough.

Baking each layer lightly first will help prevent any interior layers of dough would need to be baked for 5-10 minutes to keep it from being doughy.

OR… if you want multiple layers but not a big batch, you can use a smaller, square casserole dish and double the layering there, using the single recipe and still bake the first layer for ~5 before adding the top layer.

If you do this, we’d love to hear how it turns out and see photo/s! 🙂

Easy Breakfast Cheese Danish Recipe With Crescent Rolls Dough - Recipes & Me (2024)

FAQs

Can croissant dough be used for danishes? ›

The easiest way is to use croissant dough for danishes, but I wanted something lighter, sweeter and flakier. A few attempts and tada… the recipe is ready for you to enjoy. The dough can be used for danishes, cheese pockets, Kringle, or anything of that nature.

What is the difference between crescent dough and croissant dough? ›

Unlike croissants, crescent rolls are not laminated. This makes crescent rolls more bread-like than croissants. However, both croissants and crescent rolls contain yeast leading them to rise and have a lighter texture.

Can you use Pillsbury croissant as puff pastry? ›

Lucky for you, easy-bake crescents stand in for traditional puff pastry. It's a classic dessert with convenience!

Does croissant dough contain more eggs than Danish dough? ›

Croissant dough contains more eggs than Danish dough. After the butter is enclosed in Danish dough, the dough is given four simple folds, or turns. Bear claws, Danish spirals, and Danish pockets are all made up from filled dough rolls. Danish dough products are best egg-washed both before and after proofing.

What distinguishes croissant dough from Danish dough? ›

Croissants and Danish pastries are both multilayered and laminated. Like brioche, Danish pastries contain eggs, which is one of the main differences between these pastries and croissants. Danish pastries contain eggs because the dough needs to be sturdier in order to add fillings.

Is croissant dough just puff pastry? ›

While both puff pastry and croissant doughs are laminated, puff pastry does not include yeast and croissant dough does. The yeast gives the dough an even lighter texture. Croissant doughs also contain more sugar than puff pastry.

What is croissant dough called? ›

Croissant and Danish pastries, typically served for breakfast, are examples of laminated yeast doughs, while puff pastry, also known as pâte feuilletée or mille feuille (meaning one thousand layers), is an unleavened type.

What's the difference between puff pastry and dough? ›

Puff pastry is a laminated dough that gets its signature airy puff from layers of butter, while phyllo dough is comparatively low-fat. Phyllo dough is mostly flour and water and can dry out easily. The fine sheets of pastry dough create a crispy, crackly effect when layered and baked.

What is the closest thing to puff pastry? ›

Phyllo dough can be a great substitute for puff pastry in dishes like spanakopita and baklava [2].

What is the difference between biscuit dough and puff pastry? ›

Folding a biscuit or pie dough mimics this process. These doughs don't have distinct layers of butter and dough, like puff pastry, but they do have large chunks of cold butter distributed throughout.

What is crepe filling made of? ›

Beat confectioners' sugar, cream cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla with an electric mixer in a large bowl until smooth. Gently fold in whipped cream. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or non-stick skillet over medium heat. Pour or scoop batter onto the griddle, using approximately 2 tablespoons for each crepe.

What additive makes cheese creamy? ›

I am a fan of a lot of chemical emulsifiers and stabilizers, but nothing makes a cheese sauce quite like sodium citrate. In my younger days, I worked under a chef who revealed a mind-blowing cheese sauce recipe – just milk, cheese, and sodium citrate.

What dough are danishes made from? ›

Danish pastry is made from flour, yeast, milk, eggs, and copious amounts of butter. The texture is similar to croissant dough, but tastes sweeter (and has the addition of egg in the dough). Like croissants, typical Danish pastry dough is rolled out thinly, then folded with a layer of butter to form multiple layers.

How is Danish dough different? ›

Variant of Puff Pastry: Danish Pastry

There is a subtle yet distinct line between a puff pastry and Danish pastry. Oftentimes people have a tendency to regard both as the same thing, but in fact a Danish is a variant of the puff pastry. A Danish is leavened with yeast, as opposed to puff pastry that is raised by steam.

Why is it important not to knead croissant or Danish dough too much? ›

Do not over-knead / develop the dough too much, too much gluten will not help during the lamination process. The lamination process itself is a kind of stretch and fold anyway and will strengthen the dough.

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