These Easy Cheese Danishes use a shortcut (crescent roll dough) to make your favorite bakery pastry at home. So simple and delicious!
A SIMPLIFIED WAY TO MAKE CHEESE DANISHES
Do you remember a short while back I posted a recipe for SHORTCUT APPLE DANISHES? Well, I got such great feedback from that recipe that I had to try my hand at some cream cheese ones. So I decided on a yummy cream cheese filling - and butter my butt and call me a biscuit - I was surprised at how good these turned out. So this one is for all you cheese danish lovers!
TIPS FOR MAKING THESE EASY DANISHES:
- If you don't need so many danishes, just use one tube of crescent rolls and save the leftover cream cheese filling for another time. Just put it in a container with an airtight lid and store in the fridge for up to a week.
- Try adding strawberry or raspberry jam along with the cream cheese. It adds amazing flavor!
INGREDIENTS NEEDED (FULL RECIPE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST)
- crescent rolls
- cream cheese
- granulated white sugar
- vanilla extract
- butter
- light brown sugar
- powdered sugar
- milk
HOW TO MAKE EASY CHEESE DANISHES:
Preheat oven to 350F degrees. In a medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese with white sugar and vanilla extract. Mixture should be creamy and smooth when finished (like cheesecake batter.)
Separate crescent roll dough into eight rectangles. Seal perforations to make a rectangle.
Using a brush or spoon, spread melted butter all over crescent rolls. Sprinkle each rectangle with 1 tablespoon of brown sugar.
Roll up from long side; pinch edges to seal.
Holding one end, loosely coil each one.
Now you want to get in there with your fingers and spread out the dough some to make room for the filling. Just pull and stretch and make a nice dent in the middle. Place on cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Top each coil with about 2 tablespoons of cream cheese filling.
Bake at 350(F) for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown. For the glaze, in a bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Stir until smooth and drizzle over each warm danishes.
Cook's Note: If you don't need so many danishes, just use one tube of crescent rolls and save the leftover cream cheese filling for another time. Just put it in a container with an airtight lid and store in the fridge for up to a week. Makes 8 danishes.
CRAVING MORE RECIPES? GIVE THESE A TRY!
Easy Cheese Danishes
Ingredients
For the danishes:
- 2 (8 ounce) tubes crescent rolls
- 8 ounce package cream cheese, softened
- ¼ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons butter melted
- 8 Tablespoons light brown sugar
For the glaze:
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 teaspoons milk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F) In a medium bowl, combine softened cream cheese with white sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.
- Separate crescent dough into eight rectangles (there will be two crescent rolls to each rectangle.) Seal perforations.
- Using a brush or spoon, spread melted butter all over crescent rolls.
- Sprinkle each rectangle with about 1 tbsp. of brown sugar.
- Roll up from long side of the crescent rectangle; pinch edges to seal.
- Holding one end, loosely coil each.
- Spread out the dough in the middle some to make room for the filling.
- Place on cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Top each coil with about 2 tablespoons of cream cheese filling.
- Bake at 350(F) for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown.
- For the glaze, in a bowl, combine powdered sugar, vanilla and milk. Stir until smooth and drizzle over each warm danish.
Video
Nutrition
Originally published: June 2011
Updated & republished: July 2020
Julie
Love this recipe!! It was a big hit at a breakfast gathering!!
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Yippee!! Absolutely love hearing that! Thanks so much Julie!!
Jody
I definitely will make these - these look like a keeper - we love cream cheese danish but i am going to mix the cream cheese with seedless blackberry jam - thank you for an easy and delish recipe
Lorraine
Delicious. Will definitely make again.
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Thanks so much Lorraine!!
Rhonnie
Easy and so good. Did 1/2 recipe and it was perfect!
Harley S.
I just made these, and they turned out amazing!!! Such an easy recipe, and you can add fruit or jam to make it a fruity danish. This is definitely my new favorite! Thank you for sharing this recipe
Veronica
Made these for breakfast and my husband loved them (so did I). Easy to do and delicious. I put a few drops of orange flavoring in the icing for a flavor kick.
Dmamma
Awesome danishes! I have never made them before and these came out heavenly! I skipped the icing because it was already sweet enough without it
Brenda
Delicious, will definitely make again.
Amanda
Oh my goodness these were FANTASTIC!! Definitely a keeper. Had crescent rolls that were about to expire and wanted to try something different with them. Very simple to follow too with ingredients I usually have on hand. Thank you for this recipe!!
Heather McCarthy
I can't believe how easy these are to make!! I added a teaspoon of raspberry jam alongside the cream cheese. They were AMAZING!!!
Miriam
Turned out amazing we loved it
Betty
Thank you. Thank you. These are wonderful and You have given me Some great ideas. Going to use your base with orange or lemon flavoring plus zest of which ever I choose Going to a add cream cheese mixture inside before rolling But will David a tablespoon for each roll. Will have to make 11/2 recipe. Thank you
Carlee
These have my name written all over them. They look soooooo good!
Rachael
Could you prepare these the night before and bake in the morning?
Stephanie Collins
We loved making this last weekend. We are going to make it again soon. So yummy. I am pregnant right now and craving all kinds of things. This is great.
Amanda
Made these this past weekend. Did half cream cheese and half cream cheese with homemade strawberry jam. Used less sugar in cream cheese mixture and needed to cook for almost 30 minutes to get done but other than that it was an easy simple weekend breakfast! Will be making again!
Chris
Made these this morning. I added a dollop of raspberry jam to half of them before baking. They were all delicious. Thanks for one of my new favorite recipes!
Tracy
Turned out great! Very easy.
Tinna
Where have these been my whole life?! OHH EMM GEE!! AMAZING! These will be a new staple in our home. Can't wait to make them again. May have to do 3 cans next time! Thank you for the recipe!
Tinna
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Woo hoo!! Love hearing that Tinna! Thank you!!
Goofball Stacee
So I'm 57 years old and NEVER have baked or made much from basically scratch, even though these are packaged crescent rolls so not technically scratch I have one suggestion and I hope I don't sound stupid here, but maybe you should separate the ingredients for the glaze? I was making this and of course in this day and age, didn't read the entire recipe trying to cut corners and speed things up lol just went direction by direction. When it says to add the white sugar, duh I just added ALL the white sugar, powdered and granulated hahaha then I get to the end and read about a glaze?? Huh? Nobody told me there was a glaze hahaha So yeah, I'm hoping that I'm not the only goofball that doesn't know the difference of white sugar vs powdered sugar and thought that separating the ingredients to show that there are two uses for each vanilla measurement etc might help people such as myself 🙂 Can't wait to sink my teeth into these but I know my cream cheese will be EXTRA sweet with the added powder sugar lol
Brandie @ The Country Cook
Love your comment Stacee! You had me cracking up! You aren't alone - trust me! So happy you ave it a try!!