This easy cream cheese danish goes red velvet! A creamy red velvet center is surrounded by crescent dough and baked to perfection. An easy glaze finishes off this danish that is perfect for breakfast or brunch.
Red Velvet Week 2015 Giveaway at the bottom of the post!!
I have had danishes on the brain. For over a month now.
It all started over New Years. My family rented a cabin/house in northern Utah for a little family vacation. When we all stay together, we divide up the meals. Sometimes we are sharing responsibilities with another family, and sometimes we are on our own.
Well, for one of my solo meals, I had a breakfast. And I was stumped as to what I wanted to make. My mom was doing pancakes one day, my brother was doing French toast casserole, and my sister was doing muffins and a Mexican-ish potato hash. I wanted to do something that was fairly easy so I wasn’t cooking all day, and I needed something that everyone would like – from the babies to the grandparents.
So I did what I often do, and I hit up my pins on my Pinterest boards. I came across this Apple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Danish from Lauren’s Latest, and just like that, my mind was made up.
I ended up making Lauren’s danish as well as a cherry and cream cheese danish. I also had yogurt and granola. I had a small sliver of both danishes, and then got caught up doing something else outside of the kitchen.
I came back into the kitchen, and both danishes were demolished. Not a bite remaining.
And I have not been able to get those danishes out of my mind since then.
So when danishes are on your mind, and you’ve got Red Velvet Week 2015, it was only natural that I’d try to combine the two. And this Red Velvet Cream Cheese Danish was everything I was hoping that it would be.
If you’ve never made a braided danish, it’s pretty easy. I totally cheat and use crescent dough. One of these days I’ll actually make the whole thing from scratch, but if you are looking for a fast, easy breakfast or brunch, crescent dough is the answer.
To make the danish, you’ll first make a red velvet cream cheese mixture. It’s thick and creamy and full of red velvet flavor. Take your crescent dough and unroll it, keeping it in the rectangle. (If you can buy the recipe creations – the full sheet of dough instead of cut into triangles – it makes this all a little bit easier.) Use your fingers to stretch it out a bit and pinch the seams together. Then you spread the red velvet cream cheese down the center. It’s going to seem like a lot of filling, but I like the danish nice and filled instead of mostly dough with a little bit of filling. 🙂
Then comes the part that seems hard but is actually easy. You’ll cut strips down the sides of the dough. I think it’s best if you cut them at a diagonal, and you’ll want to make sure you have even strips on each side. Start on one side and bring it across diagonally, then pull a strip from the other side. Continue down the danish, until you only have 2 strips left. Take the very bottom strips and fold them in, then go back up to the ones you skipped and pull them across and then tuck them underneath.
Then you bake it up. Really – this whole process only takes maybe 10 minutes, from mixing the filling to braiding the danish. It looks impressive, but is super easy to make!!
After the danish has baked, you drizzle an easy glaze over the top. And then slice that baby into servings. But don’t blame me if you make your slice a little bit bigger than the others. 🙂 This Red Velvet Cream Cheese Danish is filled with red velvet cream cheese filling that sets up perfectly. This is seriously my idea of the perfect special breakfast!
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Red Velvet Cream Cheese Danish
Ingredients
- 8 oz cream cheese softened
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 teaspoons red food coloring
- 2 teaspoons cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 tube crescent rolls
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream
- dash of vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the cream cheese and sugar in a bowl and beat until smooth. Beat in the flour, red food coloring, cocoa powder and vanilla.
- Open the crescent rolls and lay the dough out on the baking sheet, keeping the dough in one big rectangle. Press out to a 13x9-inch rectangle. Pinch the seams together lightly. Spread the filling down the center of the dough. With a sharp knife, make slits diagonally down one side, about 3 1/2 inches long and 1 inch apart. Repeat on the other side.
- Starting at the top, pull one strip over the filling, then a strip from the opposite side. Continue to alternate strips, forming a braid across the top of the filling. Once there are only 2 strips left on each side, fold the bottom strips in, then cross the second to last strips and tuck under the braid.
- Bake the danish for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon of the cream and vanilla. Add more cream, if desired, to make it a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the top of the cooled danish.
For more than 50 Red Velvet Recipes, check out my book – The Red Velvet Lover’s Cookbook.
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Kristi @ Inspiration Kitchen says
These look so good. Pinned!
kita says
Oh. my. god…. 😀