Cheese Danish

I made a whole batch for the SGI Youth Festival trip to Philadelphia. Great for breakfast especially when its fresh from the oven ! So easy to make.

Ingredients:

8oz cream cheese

1/3 cup sugar

2 large egg yolks at room temperature

2 tbs ricotta cheese

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs grated lemon zest (2 lemons)

2 sheets (1 box) frozen puff pastry defrosted

1 egg beaten with 1 tbs of water for egg wash

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 deg F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth. With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, ricotta, vanilla, salt and lemon zest and mix until just combined. Don't whip.

Unfold pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until its a 10 x 10 inch square. Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife.

Place a heaping tbs of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 4 squares. Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold two opposite corners ot the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together. Brush top with egg wash. Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan. Repeat with the second sheet and refrigerate the filled Danish for 15 mins.

Bake pastries for about 20 mins rotating the pan once during baking until puffed and brown. Serve warm!