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A homemade Cherry Danish turns store-bought puff pastry into a bakery-window beauty, flaky layers under tangy cream cheese, sweet cherries, brown sugar crumble, and a vanilla glaze, and the dozen I baked on a slow Saturday morning never made it past brunch. If breakfast pastry is your love language, our berry danish recipe is the mixed-berry sister to meet next.
Two sheets of puff pastry and 35 minutes are all it takes to put a dozen glazed cherry danishes on the table.
Cherry Danish Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 20 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 15 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 35 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 12 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 418kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Buttery and bright (flaky pastry, tangy cream cheese, sweet cherries, brown sugar crumble)
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, on par with our crescent roll cinnamon rolls
Quick Answer
Cut two thawed puff pastry sheets into 12 rectangles, score a border around each, and dock the centers with a fork. Spread sweetened cream cheese inside the borders, top with cherry pie filling and a quick brown sugar crumble, then brush the edges with egg wash. Bake at 400 degrees F for 13 to 15 minutes until puffed and golden, cool, and drizzle with a powdered sugar glaze.
Jump to:
- Cherry Danish Quick Look
- Quick Answer
- Why This Recipe Works
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Key Ingredients
- Variations and Substitutions
- How to Make Cherry Danish
- Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Serving Ideas and Suggestions
- Cherry Danish FAQs
- Other Recommended Breakfast Pastry Recipes
- Easy Cherry Danish Recipe (with Cream Cheese)
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Scoring creates the signature frame. Cutting a shallow border lets the edges puff into a golden frame while the docked center stays flat to cradle the filling.
- Docking stops the middle from ballooning. A few fork holes vent steam in the center so the cream cheese and cherries stay put instead of sliding off a pastry dome.
- Mashed filling beats whipped. Mashing the cream cheese with a fork keeps it thick, so it bakes into a cheesecake-like layer instead of melting thin and leaking.
- Pie filling is pre-thickened. Cherry pie filling holds its shape in the oven where fresh cherries would flood the pastry with juice.
- The crumble adds bakery texture. Brown sugar, butter, and flour bake into crisp little clusters that give every bite a streusel crunch against the soft cherries.
- Egg wash only on the border. Brushing just the exposed frame gives a deep golden shine without sealing or sogging the filling zone.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Bakery looks, shortcut effort. Store-bought puff pastry does the laminating, so you get flaky layers without ever touching a rolling pin.
- A dozen at once. Two pastry sheets feed the whole brunch table, which beats standing in line at the bakery with our banana cream cheese muffins energy.
- Endlessly riffable. Swap the cherry filling for any pie filling or jam in the pantry and the method never changes.
Key Ingredients
Shortcut ingredients, bakery results. Quantities are in the recipe card below; here is why each one earns its spot.
- Puff pastry. The flaky foundation. Thaw it in the fridge so it stays cold and easy to cut; cold pastry puffs the highest.
- Cream cheese. Softened and mashed with sugar and vanilla for a tangy cheesecake layer under the cherries.
- Cherry pie filling. Glossy, sweet, and already thickened so the danishes never turn soggy.
- Brown sugar, butter, and flour. The three-ingredient crumble that bakes into streusel clusters on top.
- Powdered sugar and milk. A two-ingredient glaze, thick but pourable, that finishes them like the bakery case.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
One pastry base, endless danish flavors. Try these riffs.
- Change the fruit. Blueberry, apple, strawberry, or peach pie filling all swap in cup for cup, just like our mixed berry danish.
- Go lemon-cherry. Stir a teaspoon of lemon zest into the cream cheese for a bright tang against the sweet cherries.
- Add almonds. Scatter sliced almonds with the crumble; almond and cherry are a classic bakery pairing.
- Skip the crumble. They bake up sleek and shiny without it, more like a classic cheese danish.
- Spike the glaze. Swap the milk for a splash of almond extract and water, or use lemon juice for a tangy drizzle.
How to Make Cherry Danish
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and line two sheet trays with parchment. Mash the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together with a fork until combined, then set aside.
- For the crumble, mix the brown sugar and melted butter together in a medium bowl.
- Add the flour and stir with a fork until everything is moistened and crumbly. Set aside.
- Place one puff pastry sheet on a clean surface. Cut along the folds into 3 pieces, then cut each piece in half for 6 rectangles. Repeat with the second sheet.
- Score a 1/2 to 3/4 inch border around each rectangle with a paring knife, without cutting all the way through.
- Poke a few holes with a fork inside the scored center of each pastry, then arrange them on the prepared trays without touching.
- Spread about a tablespoon of the cream cheese filling over the center of each pastry, staying inside the border.
- Top the cream cheese with cherry pie filling, again keeping it inside the border.
- Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the cherries.
- Whisk the egg with a splash of water and brush the exposed pastry borders with the egg wash.
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, until the edges are puffed and golden brown. Move the danishes to a wire rack.
- Whisk the powdered sugar with milk, starting with 1 tablespoon, until thick but pourable. Drizzle the glaze over the danishes and serve.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Keep the pastry cold. If it warms and gets sticky while you work, slide the tray into the fridge for 10 minutes before baking. Cold butter layers are what puff.
- Do not cut through when scoring. A shallow score guides the puff; a full cut separates the frame from the danish.
- Soften the cream cheese fully. An hour on the counter means a smooth, spreadable filling with no lumps.
- Measure the filling. About a tablespoon of cream cheese and a heaping tablespoon of cherries per danish. Overfilling is the number one cause of leaks.
- Rotate the trays halfway. Swapping racks at the 7 minute mark bakes both trays evenly golden.
- Glaze on the rack. Drizzle over a wire rack with parchment underneath and cleanup is one sheet of paper.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Build the brunch board: pile these next to our banana cream cheese muffins and a batch of crescent roll cinnamon rolls and let everyone go pastry-hopping.
Pair one with an iced caramel latte or a white chocolate mocha frappuccino and you have a coffee-shop morning without leaving the kitchen.
Store leftovers airtight in the fridge for 3 days and re-crisp them in a 350 degree F oven for 5 minutes; the microwave softens that flaky frame. They also freeze unglazed for 2 months, ready to thaw, warm, and drizzle fresh.
Cherry Danish FAQs
This Cherry Danish layers a sweetened cream cheese filling and cherry pie filling on scored puff pastry rectangles, tops them with a brown sugar crumble, and finishes with a powdered sugar glaze. Store-bought puff pastry keeps it easy while baking up flaky and golden.
Yes. Crescent roll dough sheets work as a softer, more bread-like base; keep the same fillings and bake at 375 degrees F instead, watching closely after 10 minutes. Puff pastry gives the flakiest, most bakery-style result, so we reach for it first.
Three safeguards: dock the centers so steam escapes, use pre-thickened pie filling rather than fresh fruit, and keep the fillings inside the scored border. Cooling the baked danishes on a wire rack instead of the hot tray keeps the bottoms crisp too.
You can assemble the danishes, cover, and refrigerate them up to a day before baking; brush the egg wash just before they go in the oven. Baked danishes keep 3 days in the fridge and re-crisp beautifully in a 350 degree F oven for about 5 minutes.
Yes. Freeze baked, unglazed danishes in a single layer, then store airtight for up to 2 months. Reheat from frozen in a 350 degree F oven for about 10 minutes and drizzle with fresh glaze. The puff pastry crisps right back up.
The same method works with blueberry, apple, peach, or strawberry pie filling, lemon curd, or a thick jam. Keep the amount to about a heaping tablespoon per pastry so the filling stays inside the puffed border while it bakes.
Keeping the weekend-baking streak alive? Our lemon blueberry coffee cake is the next brunch centerpiece to try.
Easy Cherry Danish Recipe (with Cream Cheese)
Ingredients
For the cream cheese filling:
- 8 ounces cream cheese softened
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the crumble topping:
- 3 tablespoons light brown sugar packed
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
For assembly:
- 2 sheets puff pastry thawed
- 1 ½ cups cherry pie filling
- 1 large egg
- splash of water
For the glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons whole milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line two sheet trays with parchment paper, set aside.
- For the cream cheese filling, place the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl, mash everything together with a fork to combine, set aside.8 ounces cream cheese, 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- For the crumble topping, mix together the brown sugar and butter in a medium-sized bowl until combined.3 tablespoons light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Add in the flour and using a fork, stir it together until all of the flour is moistened and the mixture is crumbly, set aside.⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- Place one sheet of puff pastry on a clean work surface. Cut along the folds of the pastry so you have 3 pieces. Cut these pieces in half so you now have 6 rectangles.2 sheets puff pastry
- Score each pastry about ½ inch to ¾ inch around the border of the rectangle with a paring knife.
- Poke a few holes with a fork into the pastry but just in the center of the smaller rectangle you scored. Place these on one of the prepared sheet trays, not touching. Repeat with the other puff pastry sheet.
- Evenly distribute the cream cheese filling into the center of the pastries and smooth it out making sure you do not go into the outer border of the pastry. It will be about a tablespoon of the filling per pastry.
- Top with the cherry pie filling, again keeping inside the border.1 ½ cups cherry pie filling
- Add the crumble over the cherries.
- In a small bowl whisk together the egg and splash of water. With a pastry brush, brush the outer border of the exposed puff pastry with the egg wash.1 large egg, splash of water
- Bake for 13-15 minutes until golden brown and the edges are puffed.
- Transfer the pastries to a wire rack to cool.
- While the pastries are cooling, make the glaze by whisking together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. You want the glaze to be thick yet pourable, start with 1 tablespoon of milk and add up to another tablespoon to your desired consistency.1 cup powdered sugar, 1-2 tablespoons whole milk
- Drizzle the glaze evenly over the pastries. Serve immediately or let cool completely.
Notes
- This recipe has only been tested with puff pastry so I don’t suggest using anything else.
- The crumble and icing are optional, see my tips above.
- You can switch out your filling flavors to your liking.
- Make sure that you score and poke your puff pastry, this is what will make the sides rise and encase the filling.
- These can be frozen, see my tips above.
- Easily double this recipe to serve more people.
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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I made these and they are absolutely delicious! I love these fruity pastries and pick them at the store sometimes. We think these are better than store bought. They did take awhile to put together, trying to spread the cream cheese and keeping all ingredients inside the lines, but worth it. Can’t wait to try different fillings, but the cherry is super good. Thank you for the recipe!