Breakfast, Desserts, Recipes, Snacks · June 30, 2020

Homemade Blueberry Danish

Name: Homemade Blueberry Danish
Prep time: 135 min
Cook time: 18 min
Ingredients: 1 puff pastry ( Check out mine to make one homemade!); 8 oz cream cheese, softened; 1/4 cup sugar; 1 egg yolk; 1 tsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice; 2 tsp. of vanilla; 1/2 cup blueberries; 1 cup powdered sugar; 2 Tbsp. milk (I use whole milk); 1 egg; 3 Tbsp. of water

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I’m not a big breakfast person, but I am a big coffee-at-3-p.m.-with-a-side-of-something-sweet-person. When I can get it and let myself indulge, one of my favorite things to have with my coffee is sweet, flakey, buttery Blueberry Danish.

It’s funny how often I think of Blueberry Danish as only something I can get when I’m out of the house enjoying a coffee. Or at a brunch where my kids are behaving like angels. Or something I imagine eating when I visit France some day.

The truth is, Blueberry Danish is pretty simple to make at home if you have some puff pastry.

I recently made homemade puff pastry for my Caramelized Onion and Tomato Tart recipe. When I realized I could make something sweet with it too, I was thrilled. It’s such a versatile dough to be able to make since the pastry outcome can be sweet, savory or even a bit spicy if you want.

A little French history

The history of Danish is actually quite interesting. The puff pastry used to create it was made by accident. In 1645, a French pastry apprentice named Claudius Gele was attempting to bake bread for his sick father. But, he forgot to add the butter. To make up for it he added it in and then folded it over and over to work the butter in. The pastry chef advised him against cooking the dough, but he did and it was the beginning of a dough so light, flaky and beautiful it would be used around the world. Don’t we all wish our kitchen mistakes could turn out just as well?

Homemade puff pastry

You can find my full recipe for the puff pastry {HERE} and you can see me make it plus the rest of this recipe in the video above. However, you can also use store bought if you want for this. Although, friends, I’m telling you it’s so so simple. Just make sure to make the pastry dough in advance and this makes a delicious breakfast, brunch, coffee break snack or even dessert.

This puff pastry recipe is buttery and flaky perfection. It only requires about 15 minutes of hands-on time and 18 minutes to cook. However, it does require a 2 hour chill period so don’t think you can whip it up and have it ready to bake in 15 minutes. Some blogs I’ve seen have suggested that and there’s just no way to make it work. The cold temperature is imperative for making this work. When the cold butter hits the oven the heat and the cold reacting create the flakey layers.

Blueberry Danish filling

As for the topping or filling, it’s also a simple mixture and it’s so good that people will think you bought these from local bakery. Just some cream cheese and a few more basic ingredients combine to make the perfect, cheesecake-like filling.

While I love Blueberry Danish, you can use this same filling recipe to make other versions of Danish too including raspberry, chocolate, strawberry, blackberry and plain cheese. I like to use just simple whole fruit or chocolate chips. As they warm they get soft and are the perfect little bursts of flavor. However, you can also use jams.

I have to say that this Blueberry Danish and the plain cheese are my favorites. But Kevin enjoys the chocolate one the most.

Making the glaze

Last but not least, the glaze on top of the Blueberry Danish is kind of like the cherry on top of an ice cream sundae. (Oh! Cherry Danish!)

Remember the puff pastry itself has no sugar in it so it doesn’t swing sweet or savory all on its own. It’s really the flavors that you add to it that will make it unforgettable. And if you’ve gone through all this to make the Blueberry Danish, why not whip up a quick glaze of milk and powdered sugar to top it all off?

Altogether, this Blueberry Danish will be your piece de resistance of any meal.

A few notes

The cook time on this recipe will look long. That’s because I included the time for making the puff pastry, which again requires two hours of chill time. If you don’t do that, or if you make that the day before, the rest of this recipe will take less than 30 minutes.

Again, feel free to “top” these any way you want! Obviously the blueberry is easy to switch out in the Blueberry Danish for something else. Or leave them plain and just make the cheese ones. They’re all delicious.

Parchment paper is important for the Blueberry Danish. You don’t want the bottoms to cook too fast.

Egg wash is important for getting the proper browning.

As always, watch your oven times since they vary!

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Here’s a few of the things I use to make this recipe.

Stainless Steel Pastry Cutter – You don’t need this. You can cut the butter and then use a fork to mash it into the flour. However, this made things so much easier! I love having it now since it turns out I make a lot of puff pastry. It works for other baked goods too. You can find it {HERE}.

Baking sheets – These are my favorite baking sheets. They’re so much better than the ones I’ve had in the past and I use them for everything! I never have any issues with things sticking to them and they cook all my food beautifully. You can find them {HERE}.

Olive wood rolling pin – I love this rolling pin. It’s comfortable to use and it works so well to flatten my dough evenly. It works well on all types of dough so this will be the last rolling pin you need. You can find it {HERE}.

My Mixing bowls – Don’t you just love Pyrex? I do! These are the bowls I use in all my videos and in my everyday life. You can find them {HERE}.

My apron – So the exact color that I’m wearing in the video is no longer available. I bought it in the fall. BUT, I’m a bit obsessed with these aprons and you can find them in other colors. They’re so flattering and I love that they are solid colors. They have just the right amount of flare without me feeling like it’s too much. This one {HERE} is very close to the one I’m wearing in the video. I also just bought this yellow one {HERE} and this light pink one {HERE}. I already have this blue one you can find {HERE}. See, I told you I’m obsessed.

Thank you so much for visiting today, friends! You can get the full printable recipe for this Blueberry Danish below and make sure to watch the video above too for a visual step-by-step.

To get the recipe for the homemade puff pastry, click {HERE}. And see how you can make it savory {HERE} with the Caramelized Onion & Tomato Tart.