Fig & Cheese Danish

We had a decent dusting of snow yesterday here in Denver. It’s cold, gloomy, and not my cup of tea. At all. But on the bright side, it’ll be in the 80’s this weekend, so I’ll get over it. Just over a week until I get married to my absolute favorite person on the planet! I am very excited. I have my family coming out, and I’m taking a week off of work to relax and celebrate. We’re going to the courthouse and then having an intimate family dinner at a nice restaurant downtown. Having any sort of gathering during COVID is challenging of course, but I think we’ve got a great plan. 

We’re coming right along with the bathroom remodel as well. You can see below the tile work, the new vanity. We’re working on paint, trim, and final touches like the mirror next. It’s so close! 

It’s FIG season baby! Figs are one of my favorite flavors of all time. I love love love FRESH figs. Fresh taste so different than dried in my opinion. They are way less sweet and almost have a peach kind of flavor to it. They’re a perfect little pouch you can just sink your teeth into. When I have figs around I often quarter them up and put into salads, cereal, you name it, I will find a dish to add it to. You can use figs in savory and sweet recipes, and this recipe is a sweet fig danish. The dough is a homemade quick puff pastry. It’s easier to make than you’d think. I’ve included photos of each step just to show how easy it really is. The most important part of this entire process is to keep your dough cold. You want the dough cold because there are chunks of butter you don’t want to get fully incorporated into the dough. You want those chunks of butter to be evenly spread throughout so that once it’s baked, those chunks of butter will melt, separating the dough into layers. Layers is what we’re after here! 

I love the contrast of flavors in this danish. Sweet fig with a tangy salty cream cheese, glazed in a honey glaze! Not to mention the crispy flakey dough it’s sitting on! Yum. 

Form into a ball, and wrap with plastic. Let this chill for 1 hour in the refrigerator to rest.

After the dough has rested, roll it out to 1/8″ thickness. You can see the butter throughout, that’s exactly what you want it to look like. If you’re kitchen running warm, make sure to place the dough back in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before folding, and between folds.

Take one side and fold it into the middle.

Take the other side and fold it over. This is called a book fold. Now repeat this fold 2 more times. Make sure the dough stays very cold. The butter chunks wont be as visible anymore, but they’re still there. You’re just thinning them out to create layer after layer.

Trim off the sides and cut into 2 1/2 ” squares

Docking with a fork in the middle will help the filling stay put and the outside edges to flare up in layers. 

Top with cream cheese filling, and slices of fresh figs! Once they’re all topped, go ahead and bake.

Glaze with a honey glaze right when they come out of the oven. Viola! 

Fig & Cheese Danish

Yield 12 danish

Quick Puff Pastry

Flour 1 ½ cups

Butter (soft) 2 Tbsp.

Salt ¼ tsp

Water (ice cold) 6 Tbsp.

Cold Butter ½ cup

White Vinegar 1 tsp

Cream Cheese Filling

Cream Cheese (soft) ½ cup

Sugar 2 Tbsp.

Honey 2 Tbsp.

Salt ¼ tsp

Yolks 1

Figs 12

Honey Glaze

Honey 2 Tbsp.

Water 2 Tbsp.

Directions:

First prepare your quick puff dough. Flour, soft butter, and salt go in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cold water and vinegar go together in a separate cup. Turn mixer on low and slowly pour water into flour mixture. Then add your cold cubed butter and mix for 10 seconds- it is important to finish this dough by hand.

Remove dough from mixer onto a work surface (you should have large chunks of butter and dough should appear dry but it is good! Don’t add any more water).

Form the dough together. Wrap and rest dough for 1 hour in the fridge.

Once dough has rested, roll out onto a floured surface into a long rectangle. You’ll need to roll into 3 book folds as shown in the pictures above. If your kitchen is warm, you may need to chill the dough in between folds to keep the butter warm.

After you’ve laminated the dough, place it back in the fridge while you prepare your cream cheese filling and figs.

Place cream cheese and sugar in a bowl and stir with a spatula until smooth. Add in honey, and salt, and stir until very smooth. Add in egg yolk last. Transfer to a piping bag and set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice figs in half lengthwise. Set aside

Roll out puff dough on a clean work surface. Roll to a large rectangle about 1/8” thickness. Trim off the sides with a pizza cutter or knife. Cut into 2 ½” squares and place on a sheet tray lined with parchment paper. Use a fork to dock the center of each square, leaving 1/4” around clean. Place a dollop of cream cheese filling in the center of the square and place 2 halves of a fig on top of the cream cheese. Repeat with the remaining Danish pieces.

Bake Danish for 15 minutes. To make honey glaze, microwave honey and water together. Brush honey glaze over the baked Danish right out of the oven. Cool at room temperature for 10 minutes and serve.