Orange Cheese Danish Pastry Food

EASY CHEESE DANISH

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper.
• Beat the whole egg with 1 teaspoon of water in a small bowl; set aside.
• Beat the egg yolk, cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth.
• Lay out the 2 sheets of puff pastry and cut each into 4 squares. Fold the corners of the squares over by about 1 inch to make octagon shapes. Spoon the cream cheese mixture evenly into the center of each (about 2 tablespoons per); do not spread the cream cheese. Brush all of the exposed pastry with the egg wash, then dust generously with sugar.
• Bake until puffed and golden brown all over, about 18 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

ORANGE CHEESE DANISH PASTRY

Steps:

• Combine cheese, sugar, egg, butter, flour, orange rind and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with a whisk, or an electric mixer on medium speed, until well blended.
• Unfold pastry into rectangle; place on baking sheet. With a sharp knife or pastry scraper, make 2-inch-deep cuts at 1-inch intervals on long sides of pastry. Spread cheese mixture down center 3 inches of pastry. Crisscross strips over filling, alternating sides and bringing strips all the way across filling.
• Bake in preheated 400°F oven 25 minutes or until bottom is golden brown.
• Cool on wire rack. With a sieve, sift confectioners sugar over a bowl of orange juice and mix until smooth. Drizzle mixture over pastry; sprinkle with almonds or walnuts (optional).
• Enjoy!

DANISH ORANGE MARMALADE CHEESE POCKETS

Steps:

• Make the pastry dough: Whisk yeast into warm water. Wait 1-2 minutes, then whisk again. Whisk in milk.
• Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse to mix.
• Cut 4 tablespoons butter into thin slices and add to processor. Pulse to a fine texture -- not too much where it becomes pasty.
• Cut remaining butter into 1/2 inch cubes and add to processor. Pule twice, 1-2 seconds each time. Remove dough and place in mixing bowl.
• Whisk eggs into yeast mixture and add to dough. Using a rubber spatula, hold blade horizontally. Press/dig spatula down into dough, repeating until dough comes together, turning the bowl while you work. The dough will be soft and sticky.
• Leave dough in bowl, covering dough surface tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate 1-2 hours.
• Place the chilled dough on a floured surface and sprinkle flour on top. Press dough into a rectangle (twice as long as it is wide).
• Starting at narrow edge farthest away from you, firmly press with a rolling pin in short parallel strokes. Seal any sticky areas with a bit of flour, and don't allow dough pieces to stick to rolling pin. Repeat, then press once across width of dough. You should have a 1/2 inch thick rectangle.
• Sprinkle flour above and below dough.
• Rolling Directions: Create a rectangle 18 x 8: Starting on the edge nearest you, roll once away from you in length and once in width. Do NOT roll over the end/edge of the dough.
• Folding Directions: Fold the two narrow ends in toward the middle, leaving a 1 inch gap in the center. Fold the top to bottom to form 4 layers. Turn dough so folded edge is on the left.
• Repeat rolling and folding directions. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours, but no more than 12 hours.
• Filling: Add filling ingredients (except marmalade and chocolate chips) to a medium-size bowl. Beat together with a spatula (I use my KitchenAid mixer).
• Place HALF of the chilled dough on floured surface and sprinkle with flour.
• Using a rolling pin, press the dough in firm, parallel strokes to soften it. Flour surface and dough again if needed. Roll dough out into a 12 x 16 inch rectangle.
• Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Slide dough onto first cookie sheet and refrigerate 10 minutes (until firm).
• Repeat the above process with the second half of the pastry dough and place on second cookie sheet and chill 10 minutes until firm.
• Remove dough from refrigerator, leave dough in place on parchment paper. Cut each sheet of dough into 12 4-inch squares, keeping them in place on the parchment paper.
• Drop a heaping teaspoon of filling onto the center of each square. Top with a heaping teaspoon of marmalade or chocolate chips.
• Fold the dough corners into the middle, overlapping the filling by about 1/4 inch. Cover and let rise 20-30 minutes until they begin to puff. I did not notice much puffing.
• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Prepare the egg wash and brush to top of each pastry. Sprinkle with almonds or additional chocolate chips.
• Bake 15-20 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is set. My pastries were done at 15 minutes, so start checking after 10 minutes.
• Cool on wire rack.
• Combine icing ingredients in a small saucepan. Cook over very low heat until lukewarm. Drizzle icing over slightly cooled pastry and allow to set.