Best Strawberry Cream Cheese Pastry
These strawberry cream cheese pastry are perfect for brunch, but they are easy enough for breakfast and for an afternoon treat with friends. I made them with the intent of having them for an Easter brunch so I decided to make them an oval shape, like an Easter egg. You could make them any shape you’d like. They take a little bit of work, but for a pastry, they are pretty easy, especially with using puff pastry.
Ingredients List
- puff pastry sheets
- flour
- cream cheese
- sugar
- almond extract
- fresh strawberries
- cornstarch
- powdered sugar
- egg
- water
This pastry doesn’t have too many ingredients, just a few steps, but none of them are hard.
What is puff pastry used for?
Puff pastry is a prepared pastry that you can find in the freezer section of your grocery store, typically near the frozen pies. Puff pastry is great and easy to use for both sweet and savory pastry recipes. All the work of the dough is done with all those great layers of butter. Hopefully you will see in this recipe how easy it is to use and your creativity will come into play and you will see all the ways you can use puff pasty.
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Prepare The Pastry
First step is to thaw your puff pastry dough. Follow the directions on your pastry package. Mine called for leaving it out of the freezer at room temperature for 40 minutes. I’ve also pulled my store-bought puff pastry out of the freezer the night before I need it and place it in the refrigerator to thaw, and that has worked for me.
My box came with 2 sheets of puff pastry. I took a piece of parchment paper and gave it a dusting of flour before opening one of the sheets of puff pastry and placing it on top of the flour dusted parchment paper. Then I gave the top of the puff pastry dough a dusting of flour before I rolled it with a rolling pin. The purpose was to smooth the seams. I enlarged the area, but only by maybe an inch.
Then I took my oval cookie cutter and cut out 5 oval / egg shaped pieces of puff pastry. Then I moved those cut out pieces to a parchment lined baking sheet. After they were on the baking sheet, I used a smaller oval cookie cutter and just gently pressed it on top of the puff pastry pieces on the cookie sheet. I used this smaller cutter to create the outline for the cream cheese filling and strawberry topping to stay in.
Then I repeated the process with the second sheet of puff pastry and placed those pieces on a second parchment lined baking sheet.
Filling And Topping
The cream cheese mixture is delicious and a great universal filling to use in various fruit danishes. You just combine the softened cream cheese, sugar, and a little almond extract. If you don’t like almond flavor you could use vanilla instead. I just used a spoon to mix it together in a medium bowl.
For the strawberry topping, I used 1/2 pound of fresh strawberries. I clean them and then diced them into bite-sized pieces. Then I added a little sugar and cornstarch and tossed it with the berries to coat. This will help to draw some moisture from the berries and the cornstarch will help the berries to thicken as it bakes. You could do the same with blueberries or raspberries too.
Scoop the cream cheese filling into the center of each pastry. I used about a teaspoon of filling on each one and then used the back of the spoon to spread the filling into the smaller oval space. Repeat on the remaining pastries.
Then take the slices of strawberries and place them on top of the cream cheese filling. You want to grab just the berries and not the liquid on the bottom of the bowl. I used about 2 teaspoons on each pastry. Repeat for the rest.
Final step is brushing an egg wash around the edges of the puff pastry (the part that doesn’t have the cream cheese and strawberries).
Finishing Strawberry Cream Cheese Pastry
Then you will put them into your preheated oven and bake until the edges of the strawberry cream cheese danish are a golden brown.
I like to finish mine off with a sprinkle of powdered sugar. These make a great breakfast pastry or dessert! I hope you get a chance to make this strawberry danish soon. They look fancy but really are easy to make!
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pastry
Equipment
- 2 baking sheets
- parchment paper
- oval cookie cutters you could use any shape you like or hand cut too
Ingredients
- 1 package puff pastry 2 sheets of puff pastry, thawed
- flour dusting for rolling out puff pastry
Strawberry Layer
- ½ lb strawberries washed, and cut into small pieces
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
Cream Cheese Filling
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 tbsp sugar
- ½ tsp almond extract you can substitute vanilla extract
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp water
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350° degrees. Prep 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Strawberry Layer
- Place your clean, diced strawberries into a bowl. Add the sugar and cornstarch and toss to coat. Let them sit while you work.
Puff Pastry
- Dust your work surface with some flour (I used a parchment paper). Open one of the sheets of puff pastry and place on floured surface. Dust the top of the puff pastry with some more flour. Then roll out the pastry dough gently just to smooth out the folded areas. You really aren't trying to make the area much bigger.
- Then use you cookie cutters to cut out your oval shapes. I used 3" oval cookie cutters. I was able to cut out 5 oval shapes per sheet of puff pastry.
- Move the cut out pieces to the parchment lined baking sheets. Then use the smaller oval cookie cutter and gently press into the center of each cut out. You are not wanting to press through the dough, only using this to create an outline so you know where to place the fillings.
Cream Cheese Filling
- In a bowl, place your softened cream cheese, sugar, and almond extract. Mix together with a spoon until smooth and creamy.
Assembling
- Take a teaspoon of the cream cheese filling and place it in the center of one of the oval pastries. Hold the edge of the pastry dough as you spread the filling into the center section. Repeat with the rest of the pastry pieces.
- Add 2 teaspoons of strawberries to the top of the cream cheese filling. Make sure to not take the berry juice at the bottom of the bowl. Repeat with the remaining pastries.
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg and water. Brush onto the edge of the pastry (just the puff pastry that's exposed).
- Bake in your preheated oven for 17-20 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. If you use a smaller or larger cookie cutter you will need to adjust your baking time.
