Strawberry and Cream Cheese Danish Pastry

Ingredients

• Puff pastry, frozen, ready-to-bake, baked

  1 sheet or 245g

• Strawberries

  Frozen, unsweetened

  1 cup, thawed or 221g

• Sugar

  White, granulated sugar

  ¼ cup or 50g

• Lemon juice

  Raw

  2 tbsp or 30g

• Water

  Plain, clean water

  2 tbsp or 30g

• Cornstarch

  1 tbsp or 8g

• Powdered sugars

  ⅓ cup unsifted or 40g

• Vanilla extract

  ½ tsp or 2g

• Powdered sugars

  ½ cup unsifted or 60g

• Almond milk

  Plain

  2 tsp or 10g

• Vanilla extract

  ½ tsp or 2g

• Vegan Cream Cheese

  Trader Joe's

  175g

Directions

1. Strawberry Filling
2. Stir the water, lemon juice, and cornstarch together in a small bowl until smooth.
3. Add the cornstarch mixture, along with the strawberries and sugar, into a small saucepot. Place the pan over medium-high heat and bring the mixture up to a boil, continually stirring to prevent burning.
4. Once it is has come to a boil, continue boiling it for 2 minutes, still stirring constantly.
5. Scrape the strawberry filling into a bowl and set it in the refrigerator to thoroughly chill and firm up.
6. Move on and make the cream cheese filling.
7. Cream Cheese Filling
8. Sift the powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl.
9. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk them together until the mixture is completely smooth.
10. Move on to assemble and bake the danish.
11. How to Assemble & Bake the Danish
12. Line a large sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper.
13. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
14. Lightly flour your counter and then lay the puff pastry sheet on top.
15. Gently open the sheet and roll it out with a rolling pin to make it a 12-inch by 12-inch square.
16. Cut five 4-inch long slits on the dough's right and left-hand side, leaving the center section completely untouched. I mark every 2 inches down the right and left-hand side to space the slits out evenly, and then I make the slits 4 inches long. By doing that, the center will be 4 inches wide and completely uncut/touched. Then, carefully lift the puff pastry and place it on the prepared baking sheet.
17. Now, spread all of the cream cheese filling evenly down the middle of the dough, leaving about 1/2 an inch around the outer edges to avoid the filling squeezing out. Then spread all of the chilled strawberry filling evenly on top of the cream cheese.
18. Gently fold over the outside slits of the dough, creating a criss-cross pattern.
19. Pop the sheet pan into the oven and bake the danish for 27 to 30 minutes. Keep a close eye on it around the last 10 minutes to ensure the filling hasn't oozed out and burned.
20. Allow the danish to completely cool on the sheet pan before icing it.
21. Icing
22. Sift the powdered sugar into a small mixing bowl.
23. Add in the rest of the ingredients and whisk them together until the icing is completely smooth.
24. Once the danish has completely cooled down to room temperature, drizzle all of the icing on top!