Cream cheese danishes with sugared cranberries

Photo: Pinch of Yum

Crescent dough twisted into spirals around sweet cream cheese and jam, baked golden, glazed with vanilla butter and piled with sparkly sugared cranberries. They look like they came from a bakery case.

From Lindsay Ostrom at Pinch of Yum · @pinchofyum

Store-bought crescent dough is the shortcut; twisting it into spirals is what makes it look like real pastry.

You need

• 1 tube refrigerated crescent dough
• 2 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 tbsp granulated sugar
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp milk
• 1/2 cup jam (strawberry, or cranberry or raspberry for the season)
• Glaze: 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tbsp warm melted salted butter, 1 tbsp warm water, 1/8 tsp vanilla
• Sugared cranberries: 3 cups fresh cranberries, 1/2 cup water, 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

How to make it

1. For the berries, boil the water with 1/2 cup sugar 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the washed, dried cranberries, spread them on a parchment-lined tray and let them cool and turn sticky, about 1 hour. Toss with the remaining 3/4 cup sugar.
2. Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Unroll the dough into one sheet, roll it a little bigger and press the seams together.
3. Mix the cream cheese with the sugar and spread it over the dough. Cut into 4 long strips.
4. Fold each strip in half lengthwise, twist it into a rope and coil it into a spiral. Set them on a parchment-lined sheet.
5. Brush with egg wash, put a tablespoon of jam in the middle of each and bake 10 to 12 minutes, until golden (raise the heat to 400°F for the last 2 minutes for more color).
6. Whisk the glaze, drizzle it over the warm danishes and top with sugared cranberries.

Written in our own words from Lindsay Ostrom's recipe, with their quantities. The original: Cream cheese danishes with sugared cranberries, Pinch of Yum.

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