Inspired by Starbucks this is a fast, easy cheese danish recipe that's perfect for Christmas morning or any morning. Starbucks calls this: Sugar Plum Cheese Danish. I call it incredibly addicting. This version is LIGHTER on calories and lower in sugar.
If you aren't familiar with Starbuck's Sugar Plum Cheese Danish, it's essentially a cheese danish with sugar plum jam on top. It's perfect for the holiday season and extremely satisfying to eat with a cup of tea or coffee.
After many attempts at getting the perfect shape, I have a fool-proof way to keep the filling in the middle and the sides perfectly folded. We're going to use a mini muffin tin! The dough is cut into 8 equal squares and then gently placed over the muffin tin. We don't want to push down the dough too far into the cup, rather we want to drape it in so we get a small indent that will hold our dough. Then the corners are folded toward the center. This method helped me get the right shape bake after bake.
To keep these easy and approachable for beginners, we're using crescent rolls. It also cuts prep time in half! It's also delicious. Simply mix the filling, cut the dough, shape, fill and bake. It's super easy and these taste GREAT!
TIPS
- Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature so it combines with the other ingredients.
- Refrigerate the cheese mixture for at least one hour before filling.
- Cheese mixture can be made up to a 3 days in advance.
- Add a glaze if you wish.
RECIPE
CHEESE FILLING
6 tablespoons light cream cheese (60 calories for 2 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest [about 1 lemon worth]
2 tbs +1 tsp Truvia powdered sugar or powdered sugar*
1/4 cup solo Plum filling or raspberry jam
1 tube crescent roll sheets or crescent rolls, original flavor [preferably the sheets that aren't cut out]
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix cream cheese through sugar with a spoon until thoroughly combined. Set aside. Unroll crescents and pinch seams together if you have the perforated tube. Lightly roll with a rolling pin to level the pinched seams. Cut 8 equal squares from the dough. I do this by cutting the dough in half, then cutting each half in half. And then finally cutting the the halves in half so you have 8 squares. Lay each square into a mini muffin tin so it slightly drapes into the the tin but don't press it all the way to the bottom [see paragraph 3 for more instruction]. Fill each danish with 1 tbs of cream cheese and 1/2 tsp jam. Fold corners towards center. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until browned and bottoms are golden. Bottoms need to be golden in order to avoid sogginess.
*using powdered sugar will result in different nutritional amounts per serving.
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