Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish

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Not long ago, I made goat cheese and peach puff pastry tarts. With a big tin of fresh strawberries in the fridge, I thought I’d try something with strawberries this time.


Ingredients (makes 4):
4 squares puff pastry (the ones I used were roughly 14 x 14cm), thawed
200g cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3/4 cup strawberries
1 small egg
cane sugar
few leaves fresh mint, shredded

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius

1. Place the puff pastry sheets on a floured surface. Cut a small strip about 1cm from the outer rim all around, but leave a small piece at two diagonally opposing edges uncut. Then grab the corner that is not left uncut, lift it, and fold it, placing it on top of the rim opposite it. Take the bit you cut off from that side and flip it the same way, making a little raised ledge all around the puff pastry. You can use a bit of water to make it stick better. The corners you left attached are the ones that are prolonged in the picture.

2. Mix the cream cheese, lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla essence.

3. Using a fork, press a few indents into the centre squares of each puff pastry. In the middle of each pastry square, place a spoonful of the cream cheese mixture and top with strawberries. Use about 3/4 of the strawberries for this, reserving some for topping/garnish after removing the pastries from the oven.

4. Beat the egg in a small bowl. Then, brush the outer rims of each puff pastry with egg and sprinkle with cane sugar.

5. Place the danishes on a parchment paper-lined baking tray and place in the oven for approximately 15 minutes, until puffed and golden.

6. Remove from the oven. Transfer to a rack to cool, then top each danish with some fresh strawberry slices and a bit of shredded mint.

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