Cream Cheese Danish Pastry, a delicious pastry made with cream cheese and puff pastry. It's one of my favorite pastries to make at home with store bought puff pastry. 

It's such an easy recipe to make for tea-time get together or on weekend evenings to enjoy with friends / family. 

Here in this recipe, i have used strawberry jam for the filling along with cream cheese. But you can use any of your favorite jams in this recipe. My other favorites jams to use in this recipe are raspberry jam / blueberry jam.

Tips to make perfect cream cheese pastry 

• Make sure to take out the puff pastry from the freezer a couple of hours before.
• Make sure to use the room temperature jam and cream cheese.
• Lemon zests add an amazing flavor and it also helps to balance out all the sweetness.
• Though i skipped the egg wash in this recipe, you can do it for even more coloring on the top. 

Like any pastries, this too becomes soggy as it cools down so i highly recommend to serve this fresh out of the oven. However, you can store the remaining in the refrigerator for a couple of days. 

Don't microwave the leftover pastries, it softens the pastry further. Leave it on the counter top for 30 mins or more and serve it as it is ! 

Now let's check out how to make this delicious Danish cream cheese pastry.

Danish Cream Cheese Pastry | Eggless Cheese Danish

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Serves : 2 
Recipe Category: Pastry | Recipe Cuisine: Danish
Danish Cream Cheese Pastry, Eggless Cheese Danish, Eggless Pastries Cream Cheese Danish Pastry, a delicious pastry made with cream cheese and puff pastry.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Puff Pastry -1

Cream Cheese - 1/2 cup

Sugar - 2 to 3 tbsp

Lemon zest - 2 tsp

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

Strawberry jam - 1/4 cup

Butter - 1 tbsp

Procedure

Take the puff pastry out of the refrigerator and let it thaw. In a bowl, add the cream cheese, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Give it a good mix until it all comes together.

Next take the puff pastry and roll into a thin sheets and make a angled slit on the sides as shown in the below pics.

In the center of the puff pastry, add the cream cheese and spread it evenly and then add the jam and spread it well.

Then cover the cream cheese and jam filling with the puff pastry from the sides overlapping one another like shown in pics below. 

Preheat the oven @375 F. Transfer the puff pastry into a parchment line baking tray and brush the top with some butter. Bake it in the oven for 20 mins or until the top becomes golden brown.

Delicious Cheese Danish is ready. Let it cool a bit and then cut into desired shapes and serve.

Related:How to make Egg Puffs

Notes:

• Depends on how sweet you want, you can add more or less sugar.

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Mini Apple Turnovers with Puff Pastry | Bite Size Pastries

Apple Turnovers, a flaky and crispy puff pastry filled with delicious cinnamon flavored apple mixture inside. This bite size apple pastries are easy to make, delicious and super addictive ! Making apple turnovers from the scratch takes a lot of time and maneuver so let's take the short cuts and make it with puff pastry. 

Why is it called Turnovers ? 

Since I grew up without eating these kind of western pastries, my first thought was why is it called turnover when i first heard the word "turnover" . With my online research I found that turnovers are nothing but individual pies and it's made by folding the sheets with stuffing inside unlike the classic pie hence it's called as turnovers to differentiate from the regular pies.

Mini or Regular turnovers 

I personally like the mini turnovers more than the regular turnovers therefore here i have made these apple turnovers as mini bite sized pieces. But you can follow the same recipe and make the regular size turnovers.

Related : How to make French Palmiers with Puff pastry 

Puff Pastry 

In this recipe, i have used the "Tender flake " brand puff pastry. I have tried a few other brands of puff pastry also, it all works fine for me. Make sure to use the room temperature puff pastry. It would be easy to roll and shape. Before using the puff pastry, keep it out of the freezer for a couple of hours or keep it in refrigerator overnight 

Apples 

You can make these puff pastries with pretty much any of your favorite apples. I have made them with gala, honey crisp, granny smith and red delicious. Here in today's recipe, i have used gala apples. Some apples are more sweet than others so depends on the apple sweetness, you may need a little less or more of sugar .So always start off with 3 tbsp of sugar for an apple and increase if you need more. Also, some apples are more juicer than others, so make sure to cook them till it's thick like jam consistency .

 

Jams

Can i use jam instead of making my own filling ?

Yes, of course ! It will make the process a lot easier and you can use any of your favorite jams in this recipe. 

How to Store the leftover

It stays well for 3-5 days at room temperature. After a day, it loses its crispiness but still tastes good. I personally recommend to bake the needed amount only, remaining you can store it in the freezer with the filling inside and bake it whenever needed. 

Egg Wash or Milk Wash 

You can do either egg wash or milk wash for this recipe. Egg wash gives more color to the pastries whereas milk wash doesn't. Since I want to make these turnovers as totally eggless, i'm sticking to the milk wash here.  

How to avoid the filling leakage from the pastries

First, don't overfill the pastries. Here less is more, so just a tsp of filling is enough. Second, make sure to silt the puff pastries on the top. It helps the pastries to puff up evenly and avoid the bubbles in the pastries. 

Related : How to make Indian Bakery style Vegetable Puffs 

Mini Apple Turnovers with Puff Pastry

Preparation Time : 10 mins | Cooking Time : 30 mins | Serves : 16 
Recipe Category: Pastries | Recipe Cuisine: International
Mini Apple Turnovers, Apple Turnover, Mini Apple Turnover,Apple pastries Apple Turnovers, a flaky and crispy puff pastry filled with delicious cinnamon flavored apple mixture inside.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients

Puff Pastry - 1 

Sugar - 1/2 tsp

Milk - 1/2 tbsp

For Stuffing 

Apple - 1 cup (peeled & chopped)

Sugar - 1/4 cup

Cinnamon powder - 3/4 tsp

Butter - 1/2 tbsp

Lemon juice - 1/2 tsp (optional)

Procedure

First, let's prepare the filling. Heat the butter in a pan and then add the peeled and roughly chopped apples., saute it in the butter well. 

Cover the pan with lid and cook till the apples start to brown. Then add the sugar and cinnamon powder .

Mix it well, again cover cook till the sugar melts and the apples became soft. Mash it with the ladle gently and once it turns into thick jam like consistency, remove from the flame and transfer into a bowl. 

Let it cool completely. Preheat the oven at 400 F. In the mean time, take the room temperature puff pastry, dust it with flour and roll into rectangular sheets with dimensions of 12*8 inches(approximately). 

Cut into 16 rectangular squares and place a tsp of apple mix in one corner of the cut out rectangle sheets.

Take one end of the sheet and cover the stuffing with it  and then fold the sheet one more time. Refer below pic for better understanding.

Arrange it in the parchment lined baking tray and make a few slits on the top with sharp knife. Then brush the top with milk and sprinkle some sugar. Place it in the oven and bake it at 400 F fro 18-20 mins.

Tasty Mini Apple Turnovers are ready ! 

For more baking recipes, check out my collections 

Notes:

• If the apple is too sweet, add a tsp of lemon juice to balance the sweetness
• Instead of white sugar, you can use brown sugar also.
• Make sure the puff pastry is at room temperature before using.

Related : How to make Indian Bakery Style Egg Puffs 

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Home made Donuts | Sugar Donuts | American Breakfast Recipe

Donuts, a deep fried pastry made from lightly sweetened yeast dough and later it is topped with various toppings like sugar glazing or chocolate or simple sugar. 

Though I like a couple of toppings on donuts, simple plain sugar on the top is my all time favorite. There were times that I had picked at least a couple of donuts from the bakery section of the grocery store whenever we visited and really loved those soft donuts from the bakery store.

Later when I had decided to try donuts at home, it was not easy at first, a few attempts were total disasters and at that time I didn't even know the reason, after a while I came to understand that those were the times I didn't know how to proof the yeast properly. 

Once I get a hang of proofing the yeast, I always prepare them  at home whenever I'm craving for some doughnuts.

We both like south Indian style spicy tiffin for our breakfast hence initially we couldn't think of this kind of sweet pastries as breakfast. 

But now once in a while, we can have a couple of donuts along with coffee for our breakfast when we are driving.  

Now coming to the recipe, I have tried this donut from joyofbaking, actually it's my go to website for any pastry/baking items. 

Since baking was not part of our cooking at my home when I grew up, the precise measurement and the detailed procedure in joyofbaking really help me a lot to get any baking/pastry item perfect on the first time!!!

Without further delay, let's check out the recipe, but if you want to know what i have prepared for past 5 days under International breakfast, here they are

Day 1 - Mysore Masala Dosa from India
Day 2 - Mani pittu from Srilanka
Day 3 - Mofo Gasy from Madagascar
Day 4 - Baozi from China
Day 5 - French Crepes from France

Home made Donuts

Preparation Time : 2 hrs | Cooking Time : 10 mins | Makes : 9 
Recipe Category: Breakfast | Recipe Cuisine: American
Donuts,Sugar Donuts, Donuts, a deep fried pastry made from lightly sweetened yeast dough and later it is topped with various toppings like sugar glazing or chocolate or simple sugar.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
All Purpose flour - 1 cup
Instant yeast - 3/4 tsp
Butter - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Sugar - 1 & 1/2 tbsp
Salt - 1/8 tsp
Warm Milk - 1/4 cup + 1 tsp
Egg - 1/2
Sugar - for coating the donuts.

Procedure

Take flour, yeast, sugar & salt in the bowl, mix it all well together, cut the butter into small pieces and add into the flour mixture and incorporate the butter into the flour with your fingers.

Once all the butter is incorporated into the flour, it looks like bread crumbs. Then add the beaten egg and warm milk and mix it well until it become a dough.

Transfer the dough on the counter and start kneading the dough for 5 mins or until it became soft and smooth.

Once the dough is smooth, place it on the greased bowl and cover it with cling wrap and keep it in warm place for 1.5 hrs to 2 hrs or until it's doubled.

Once the dough is doubled, remove the cling wrap and gently punch the dough to escape the air. 

Transfer the dough on the working surface. Lightly dust the dough with flour and start rolling into thick disk with the rolling pin.

Use the donut cutter & cut into desired shape. Since i don't have donut cutter, i have used one small bowl and a cap of the bottle to cut into donut shape.

Place the dough on the parchment lined tray. Do the same for the remaining dough and cut the whole dough into donut shape.

Gather the leftover dough & roll them again into thick disc and cut into donut shape.

Place them all on the tray and cover it with kitchen towel and keep it in warm place for another 30 mins or until the size is doubled.

Heat the oil for deep frying, add a pinch of dough, if it's brown in 30 to 40 secs, then the oil is ready. Add the donuts and let it cook on one side for 30- 40 secs.

With the wooden stick , gently flip the donuts and let it cook on other sides also for 30 -40 secs . Drain the donuts from the oil and place it on tissue paper.

Immediately add the donuts into the sugar and roll it all over.  Do the same for all the donuts and donuts holes.

Tasty Donuts is ready to serve. Serve them with coffee/tea.

Related: How to make Apple Turnovers

 

Notes:

• Instead of instant yeast, you can use the regular yeast also, but make sure that the yeast is well proofed before using.
• Depends on the flour quality & moisture content, sometimes i need more or less 1 tsp of milk.  
  
  

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Vegetable Puffs | Bakery Style Veg Puffs | Savory Puff Pastry

Vegetable Puffs, an Indian style savory puffy pastry with mixed vegetables stuffing inside. In the late 90s almost every bakery and tea shop in our town had these vegetable puffs & egg puffs on their counter as a midday snack. And that time, it was selling like anything and mostly it would be finished within an hour or two. 

Unlike many people, I'm not a big fan of those puffs then & now. In those days, i had found that the masala in the stuffing was overpowering, so whenever  anyone offered this puff during our visit to any relative place, i would literally remove all the stuffing inside and keep it aside and have the pastry alone :-) . 

Yep, that's me !! I started to like this puffs once i had started to prepare them at home. With store bought puff pastry, it can be easily made at home in minutes. 

When it comes to pastries, i'm always lean to the sweet side and find that the pastries texture is so good  with the sweet version rather than the savory. But ST is totally opposite to me, he doesn't have as much sweet tooth as mine. 

So for this sake, i had started to bake some savory pastries at home and now it's one of my favorites too. Out of all savory pastries that i have tried so far, avocado rolls and the vegetable puffs are our most favorites. I often prepare them as a snack for our weekend evening tea.

If you have puff pastry in hands, then this yummy & bakery style puffs will be ready in 30 mins.Here in the recipe i have used the veggies like potato, carrot & peas. But this can be made with only potatoes or peas also, i had tried that way also and it tasted equally good. Now let's check out the recipe. 

Vegetable Puffs

Preparation Time : 15 mins | Cooking Time : 20 mins | Makes : 6 
Recipe Category: Snacks | Recipe Cuisine: Indian
Vegetable Puff, Veg Puff,Bakery Style Veg Puff, Iyengar Bakery Style Veg Puff,Indian Vegetable Puff,Savory Puff,Indian Puff Vegetable Puffs, an Indian style savory puffy pastry with mixed vegetables stuffing inside.

Sandhiya https://www.facebook.com/SandhiyasCookbook https://www.instagram.com/sandhiyascookbook/

Ingredients
Puff Pastry - 1 sheet
Mix veg - 1 cup(potato, carrot & peas)
Onion -1 small
Tomato - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Red chili powder - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 tsp
Butter/ Ghee - 1 tsp
Coriander leaves - few

Procedure

Cut the veggies(potato & carrot) into small cubes, place it on the steamer plate along with soaked peas and steam it for 10 mins in the medium flame. 

Heat the oil in the pan, add the chopped onion and sauté it till it becomes translucent.Then add the ginger garlic paste and sauté  till the raw smell leaves, then add the cooked veggies.

Add tomato and the spices(turmeric, red chili & garam masala powder) & salt, give a good mix, then add a tbsp of water and mix it all together well.

Cover the pan with lid and cook till the raw smell of the spices leaves and it becomes thick. Turn off the heat and add the chopped coriander leaves.Mix it well. That's it, stuffing for the puffs is ready. Let it cool completely.

Preheat the oven at 425F.
Now take the puff pastry, first cut it into three vertical sheets, then again cut each sheets horizontally into two pieces. Place around 1 to 1&1/2 tbsp of stuffing into each sheet.

Wet the corners with water and close the sheet into half. Do the same for the remaining sheets. Place it on the baking sheets and brush on the top with ghee.

Place it on the preheated oven and bake it for 20 mins. After first 10 mins, rotate the pan once and increase the temperature to 450F and bake it for the remaining 10 mins. Remove it from the plate and again brush the top with the ghee.

Tada, Homemade Vegetable Puffs are ready.Serve it with coffee or tea. 
For more snack and chaat recipe, check out here 

Notes:

• While steaming the veggies, cook till it becomes almost done. No need to cook till it soft, otherwise it becomes mushy in the end.
• Instead of garam masala powder, you can use the sambar powder also.
• I have used the store bought puff pastry.
• Take the pastry from the refrigerator just before 20 mins of baking. Otherwise the fat from the pastry would start to melt and it won't get the layers nicely after baking.
• Make sure that the stuffing is cooled completely before you put it on pastry sheet.
• Cook the veggies till all the moisture evaporates, otherwise the puff pastry will be soggy after baking.
• Here i have used overnight soaked peas, but you can use frozen peas also.
  

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