Sugar Plum Cheese Danish - Starbucks Copycat

If you have ever tasted this seasonal Sugar Plum Cheese Danish from Starbucks, you'll be like me and want to eat one every day! But DANG they have gotten expensive and I can now make a whole batch at home for the price of one.

And while, as someone mentioned to me these look like grown-up toaster strudel, I'll just turn on my grown-up easy bake oven and whip up a batch. They are so good, and if you can, eat them as soon as they cool enough to. So good while still warm!

Ingredients

While you can go through the work of making your own puff pastry, these turn out just as good, maybe even better with storebought. I typically am a major proponent of making pretty much everything homemade, but this is the one shortcut I am willing to make.

I also use purchased plum jam for this recipe too, I typically make them in the winter so plums are not readily available. You could also use just about any jam you like.

Use the JUMP TO RECIPE button at the top of the post, or scroll to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe card with ingredient measurements and instructions.

Method

First thaw the puff pastry, then roll it out just a little bit on a lightly floured surface. Do not push it out too hard or your pastries won't rise well. Just make it a tiny bit bigger and flatten it out so you can get 4 fairly even squares out of it. Then cut the pastry into 4 squares.

Place the four squares on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cut 4, 1 ½ inch or so list on each side. Dab some egg wash on all four corners and the middle and fold the corners into the middle. Brush the folded parties with some egg wash all on the tops and sides, and place them in the freezer to chill.

Once chilled, dollop some of the cream cheese filling on top of each pastry and dust the edges with sanding sugar. Bake them immediately until golden and puffed. Place the jam on top as soon as they come out of the oven, then let them cool and drizzle the glaze on if desired.

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📖 Recipe

Yield: 8 pastries

Sugar Plum Cheese Danish

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

If you have ever tasted this seasonal Sugar Plum Cheese Danish from Starbucks, you'll be like me and want to eat one every day!

Print

Ingredients

• 1 large Egg, whole
• 1 large Egg Yolk, divided
• 1, 17.3-ounce box Puff Pastry, 2 sheets - thawed

for the filling:

• 4 ounces Cream Cheese, room temp
• 3 tablespoons Powdered Sugar
• ½ teaspoon Lemon Juice, freshly squeezed
• ¼ teaspoon Kosher Salt
• ¼ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• Sanding or Turbinado Sugar, for sprinkling
• Plum Jam, or your favorite for topping

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375˚F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and reserve until needed.
2. Make an egg wash by beating the egg, and half the egg yolk together with a pinch of salt. Reserve until needed.
3. Remove the pastry from its bag and discard the paper sheets from it. Open it onto a lightly floured surface and using a rolling pin, roll the pastry out, working one at a time, just a touch to form a perfect-ish square.
4. Cut the large square into 4 even squares by cutting it down the middle and cutting each half in half. Use a ruler to get exact squares if desired.
5. Using the egg wash you made earlier, brush some on all four corners of each square, and fold each corner into the middle of the square, pressing down so it adheres and you end up with a bit of a divot in the center. 
6. Divide the Danish between two sheet pans lined with parchment paper and place them in the freezer until firm, 10-15 minutes.
7. While the formed danish rests, make the cheese filling by combining the remaining half egg yolk, cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice, salt, and vanilla in a bowl and whisk together until no lumps remain.
8. Remove the danish from the freezer brush the tops with egg wash and dust them with the sanding sugar.
9. Fill the divots with a heaping tablespoon of the cream cheese filling and place the pastries directly in the hot oven.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Turn the pan around halfway through baking.
11. As soon as the danishes come out of the oven, remove them to a cooling rack top them with a teaspoon of the plum jam, and let them cool until room temp or just slightly warm still.
12. The pastries will deflate a bit as they cool and are best enjoyed the day they are made, even slightly warm.
13. Optionally, you can leave the jam off and simply leave them cheese danishes, and finish them with a powdered sugar glaze if desired.

Notes

Notes & Tips

It is important to chill the puff pastry after you form the danishes. Doing so ensures you get a really great rise out of it. Rushing it will still give you puffy danish, but chilling it makes it next-level puffy. This is because when the butter is cold, it creates more layers, hence more PUFF.

Be sure your cream cheese is room temp, if not a little softer or you will get a lumpy filling. And that is no good. I even make the filling in my little food processor to ensure it is SUPER smooth.

The glaze is totally optional, it really is just to make them a little showier. But it also enhances the feel of adult toaster strudels.

Substitutions

While you can make your own puff pastry if you like, store-bought is always perfect. I usually encourage anyone to make almost everything from scratch, but this is one shortcut I am willing to take.

I love some crunch sanding sugar on pastries like this, if you can not find really chunky sanding sugar, you can also use Turbinado or sugar in the raw.

Plum jam makes these super reminiscent of the Starbucks Sugar Plum Cheese Danishes, but you can honestly use ANY jam you like on top of these. You could also use NO jam and just have a cheese danish if you prefer.

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Nutrition Information:

Yield:

8

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 485Total Fat: 32gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 23gCholesterol: 84mgSodium: 269mgCarbohydrates: 43gFiber: 1gSugar: 12gProtein: 8g

This is an estimated caloric value, actual numbers may differ based on the ingredients used.

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