My Recipe Box - Gluten Free Cheese Danish

January 2023 - Toronto ON

I have always loved cheese danish! This gluten free recipe satisfies that urge, although the pastry is not as flaky as a danish. They keep well, we had them for breakfast three mornings in a row. I had frozen the rest.

Recipe says to make 10, I got 12 and I would even make them smaller and flatter so that you could put more filling on them. We found them to be a little to thick. These photos are from my first attempt, I will update as we refine our version.

 Note: to measure flour do not dip the measuring cup into the flour, using a scoop fill the measuring cup and level with a knife

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups (304g) gluten-free all-purpose flour blend used Robin Hood

1/4 (108g) cup arrowroot starch

1/3 cup (67g) coconut sugar or sweetener of choice used sugar

2 tsp. GF Rapid rise yeast

1 tsp. GF baking powder

2 large eggs at room temperature, whisked

1/2 cup (110g) warm milk (120 F)

10 Tbsp. (142g) salted butter, divided 4 tbsp (57g) melted and 6 tbsp (85g) cubed and frozen

1 tsp. Fresh lemon juice

FILLING

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature

1 large egg, separated

1 Tbsp. Coconut sugar or sweetener of choice

1/4 cup jam (apricot, plum, cherry, strawberry, curd or raspberry)

ICING (optional)

1 1/2 Tbsp. Fresh lemon juice (or as needed to reach desired consistency)

1 cup powdered sugar 

In a large bowl whisk flour, arrowroot starch, sugar, yeast and baking powder

Melt 4 tablespoons (57g) of butter and place the remaining butter in the freezer after cutting into small pieces.

Add eggs, milk, melted butter and lemon juice to dry ingredients and mix. The dough should be fairly wet. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour allowing the dough to rise.

Make the filling - cream together cheese, egg yolk and sugar. The extreme yellow is due to the very yellow egg yolks I had!

Once the dough has risen, fold the 6 tbsp (85g)frozen cubes of butter into the dough

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking tray with parchment paper

Using a large cookie scoop, scoop out 10 mounds of dough and place on the baking tray 2 inches apart. Dip your fingers in some oil and create a well in each mound of dough.

 Add one spoon of cheese filling mixture to each well and top with one spoon of jam. 

Whisk the remaining egg white and brush over the exposed dough. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes until golden.

A reminder of the size cutter I used!

For the icing, whisk the lemon juice with the powdered sugar and drizzle over the pastries.

Flavour Variations:

There are various fillings options when making a Danish. 

Add chocolate or Nutella
Add nuts
Sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar mixture
Add any flavor of jam or fruit filling you like
Apple pie filling
Use cookie cutters to make fun shapes
You can make a large shaped cheese danish in the form of a rectangle

Or bake as a loaf

No eggs
Laminate version