[Here from Pinterest? Welcome! After you make these danishes, make sure to check out my other Pillsbury recipe: Easy Cinnamon Roll Wreath]
For those of us that are doomed to work in an office lucky enough to have a stable job, we know that the best days often involve surprise homemade treats that a coworker decided to bring in. You, too, can be that coworker. While muffins, cookies or donuts are always a welcome option, this super easy Danish recipe is a great way to switch it up a little. Better yet, they can easily be made the night before, letting you keep to your normal sleeping schedule.
Although I don’t typically work from recipes that call for “pre-fab” food, the ones I do like generally involve a Pillsbury product. Pillsbury crescent rolls are incredibly versatile and can be used for everything from breakfast to dessert, or my favorite, a dessert-y breakfast. These Danishes are super easy, super delicious, and make enough to feed a crowd. I brought mine to work and had no trouble giving them all away.
I made mine with cherry pie filling (my favorite), but feel free to substitute any pie filling, preserves or thick jam that you prefer, or leave the fruity part out completely. If you’re a Nutella person (I am not, bleh), I’m sure that would also work nicely alongside the cream cheese filling. If you’re feeling inspired, a quick sauce from fresh fruit would be even more amazing.
So next time you want to surprise your coworkers, skip the muffins and pick up some cream cheese and crescent rolls; you’ll be the new office favorite in no time.
If you’re struggling to print this recipe, a PDF copy is available here: Easy Cream Cheese Danishes | Baking Bytes
Easy Cream Cheese Danishes
Makes 24 pastries
Ingredients
2 cans Pillsbury Grands Crescent Rolls (big & flaky)
1 can pie filling (I like cherry)
8 oz cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup sugar
powdered sugar
milk
Directions
Place crescent roll cans in the freezer for about 30 minutes.- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line baking sheets with silicon mats or parchment paper.
- Beat cream cheese, vanilla and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and fluffy.
- Open the cans and slice each into 12 pieces, approximately 1/2″ slices. (Don’t unroll them, pretend they’re slice and bake cookies.)
Place six slices on a cookie sheet, flattening the centers to create an indent. (I used a large spice container dipped in flour, plus my fingers for a little extra flattening in the middle.)2- Fill the indent half with the cream cheese mixture and half with the pie filling.
- Bake until edges are golden brown, about 15 minutes.
- Cool completely on a wire rack.
- In a small bowl, mix a large spoonful of powdered sugar with a little milk until liquid but still thick. Spoon into a pastry bag or Ziploc, cut off the tip, and drizzle over the pastries.
- Enjoy one (or three, I don’t judge) with a cup of coffee or a tall glass of milk.
Notes
1 I actually think these are best the next day. Bake, cool, frost, and put in airtight containers overnight. For me, they’re always more moist and pastry-like the next morning. (Although they are also fabulous straight out of the oven… but don’t burn your mouth.)
2 These spread a lot during baking, so don’t try to squeeze too many on a pan. Start with 6 and see if you have room for more after the first batch is baked.
Baking Bytes 
Tried this recipe .
My husband and I loved them . Plan to make them again tomorrow .
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Made these today, they are scrumptious, please don’t judge me, I ate 4 as soon as they were cool. The only thing I did wrong was to use a too small spice jar to make my indention, I had some cream cheese mix left over.
No judgement here! Pastries make the soul happy. :) Happy to hear you enjoyed them!
These look amazing. I have a can of cherry pie filling and this is easier than sharing a pie at work. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hope you love it! Thanks for stopping by. :)
I am so happy I found this recipe…Thank-you…Although I tweeked it a little-only because I cant help it 😀
Ok so I bought store brand big flaky biscuits. I already had cream cheese…when i mixed up the cream cheese mix i added a little Cardamom and fresh nutmeg…for the fruit topping I had strawberry, raspberry, cherry, and fig preserves…so I topped 2 with each of those…Oh So Good. One other thing I did i didn’t have vanilla so i added almond instead…Yum!!! I love this recipe it’s So Easy gonna make it more often Again Thank-You 💜
Almond and cardamom are two things I love; sounds like delicious tweaks! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. =)
I made these tonight and they turned out awesome! Thank you for the recipe!!
Glad you liked them!! Thanks for stopping by. :)
Doesn’t the cream cheese need an egg?
I did not find it to be necessary. Thanks for stopping by!
Personally, no I’ve never found an egg to be useful. However, I do add 1/4 to 1/2 Teaspoon lemon juice and it tastes more authentic to me.
I just finished making these and they are delicious they were so fast and easy very little clean up afterwards. I will be making these often as I am diabetic and can only have a small amount of sweets at a time these are perfect thank you for posting this recipe
Glad you liked them!
Just made some using chunky applesauce and Pillsbury Grands flaky biscuits cut in half, they were fantastic! Thank you
Yum, I bet apple was delicious!
I also bought the Pillsbury grand biscuits. Got a question though. Would I still bake at the same temp and for the same amount of time? I plan to make my own jams, strawberry, blueberry and blackberry so I can get that sweetness in there. SO looking forward to making these but I want to make sure I’ve got the right baking temp and time because I would hate to waste any ingredients/$$. Hope to get a response soon…
I’ve not tried it with the biscuits before but I would just follow their standard baking instructions on the tube and keep an eye on them in the oven. I expect the biscuits will take much longer to bake than the crescents, but you should be able to base the time off whatever the tube’s instructions say! The biscuits do have a massively different texture than the crescent rolls so your final product will not be the Danish style like my recipe states.
Lindsey, thanks for getting back to me so quickly! I think I’ll wait to make these cause I want them to come out just as yours did. Thankfully I found a recipe to use my Grands. I made a vanilla pastry cream and found a recipe to make Boston cream donuts. After I get the right biscuit rolls and make your recipe I’ll be back to let you know how it went. Thanks again… 😉
Donuts sound yummy! Hope the Danishes are worth the wait. :)
Would the original Pillsbury Crescents work for these? Would the dough be the same? Would you cut less to a package? How thick would you cut them? These sound wonderful, but I can’t find the Grands Crescent Rolls here!
Hi there! You can definitely use the originals, you will just get smaller ones, so you may want to have a third package around in case you have lots of extra filling. I would still cut them into 1/2″ inch slices but each pastry will be more of a mini version (which isn’t bad, the originals are quite large!) they also may not need as long to bake so keep an eye on them in the oven and check them after 8-10 minutes since you don’t want to overbake them. Let me know how it goes!
I think they would work, but yes I would cut them about 3/4 to and inch maybe. When you spread them down and out the toppings on, I used raspberry, it was fabulous. You may want to start your time about 5 mins lower and adjust from there. Wishing you the best
What if I don’t have an airtight container, can I just cover overnight will they still be good?
I haven’t tried that but I’m sure it won’t hurt them, though they will likely be not as soft the next morning. I would recommend putting them in Ziplocs or putting them on plates wrapped with plastic wrap to help seal them in as much as possible.
Gotta try these! Thanks for sharing. . . They sound and look wonderful!
They are a great way to please a crowd! Hope you give them a try. =)
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wooow! I`ll make them on weekend!
mary2be.blogspot.com
Let me know what you think!
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I had these exact ingredients on hand with the intention of making turnovers. Came across your recipe from pics on Google & I am going to try them tonight!! This way sounds so cool!! I have fresh blueberries, so I’m trying that. I’ll link you so you can see your inspired post!! :-)
Sounds yummy! You could definitely use the blueberries as is or for a more pastry style, make them into kind of a chunky blueberry sauce first for a sweet version. Let me know how they turn out!
Do these need to be refrigerated if not eaten same day? General idea how long they last before spoiling?
Should be fine for at least 24 hours on the counter. Probably fine longer but I’ve never had them around longer than that. :)
made them for super bowl sunday. worked great my daughter loved them. Even took pics to send to her friends. The only thing I did different is I didn’t use the powdered sugar glaze. Instead I had some left over cream cheese frosting in a can, microwaved that and added cherry syrup from the can of cherries to make a cherry cream cheese glaze. Very good will make again.
Glad you liked them; thanks for stopping by!
That sounds great too. Thanks for sharing. I may have to try this one too it’s almost time for the blueberries to be in season here.
Hope you give them both a try! Fresh blueberries would take these danishes to a whole new level. :)
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Made these for Christmas morning. They were fabulous and so easy to make. Will never buy danish again. Can’t wait to make these with apple filling. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Glad they were a hit! Merry Christmas and thanks for stopping by. :)
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Are you using Pillsbury Grands OR Pillsbury Cresent Rolls? The Grands make the biscuits and Cresent Rolls make the fake croissant. From the photos it looks like they are the Grands. Sorry, very confused.
Hi! They are the grands crescent rolls. They are the croissants but bigger. http://www.pillsbury.com/products/crescents/grands-big-and-flaky-crescents Hope that helps!
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Hi for the sugar in the cream cheese mixture , is it powdered or granulated?
Hi there! Granulated will work just fine; since it’s baked it won’t be grainy. I will always specify in my recipes if it calls for something other than standard granulated sugar. Enjoy!
what size containers of rolls ??? and do u cut each biscuit into 12 ?? is that possible ???
Hi! Thanks for stopping by.
To my knowledge there is only one size of grands big and flaky crescent rolls, they look like this: http://www.pillsbury.com/products/crescents/grands-big-and-flaky-crescents
You do not slice each biscuit. After opening the can, slice the whole roll of crescents into twelve pieces like you would slice and bake cookies. Hope this helps!
Will you send me a PDF for the Easy Cresm Cheese Danish? I’m having difficulty printing it.
Thanks!
Hi Tommie! I updated the post to have a link to the PDF copy, right above where the recipe starts. You should be able to print directly from there with no issues. Let me know if you’re still having problems!
I can’t get this recipe to print.
Hi Sylvia, very sorry you are having issues printing! Send me an email (can be found under the “contact” tab at the top of this page) and I will reply with a PDF that should print no problem.
Made these and they are so good. Going to make them again today. My hubby loves them, and he is pretty pickey. Love them, thank you for the recipel
So glad they were a hit for you guys! Thanks for sharing. :)
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Just made these and they are incredible! The only thing I would do different is I would spread the cream cheese mixture evenly over the top and put the cherries over everything. Awesome!!
Glad you enjoyed them! Good idea to spread both over the whole thing. A different aesthetic but definitely extra delicious. =)
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Made them with fig, strawberry, raspberry and apricot jame. All were delicious. We’re keepng this recipe.
So glad you liked it!
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Yum! I made these with a triple berry preserve instead of pie filling. Everyone loved them and they are easy to make!
After you insert them in an airtight container, can you leave them out of the refrigerator or do they go in the refrigerator until you are ready to eat? Thanks.
They are fine on the counter for several hours (including overnight if you make them in the evening) but if you're making them them really far in advance I'd put them in the fridge. Take them at least 30 minutes or so before you're going to serve them so they have time to warm up.I, too can pass up the Nutella….I have now made these several times. Love them with either cherry pie filling or peach pie filling. They are easy to make and very delicious!
So glad you love them! Peach sounds delicious. I also like blueberry. =) They are great for feeding a crowd but not so great for a small group so I don’t make them super often. I’ve been meaning to try freezing them and seeing if they reheat well.
I made these for our Pinterest snack day at work! Can’t wait to bring them in tomorrow!
I made this while volunteering in the Ronald McDonald family room..the visiting parents and families devoured them….soooooooeasy and delicious
I love that you shared them with families in need! I’m sure it was a highlight of their day. =)
I’ve been meaning to make a cheese cake forever but when I saw this on pinterest I thought let’s make this instead :P I have a quick question though..I can’t find the Pillsbury Grands Crescent Rolls you have used in your recipe in any store where I live. What can I substitute it with?
Hi! Well you can always make your own pastry dough if you’re feeling up to a challenge, but if you can find any sort of pre-made dough it’ll probably work. Even pie crust (as long as it isn’t baked) would work, although it would result in a different sort of pastry. Just look for something that doesn’t have a strong flavor (no rye, for example) and give it a whirl. The Pillsbury crescents are just a puffy, plain dough similar to a croissant but a bit more dense. Taking a look at the Pillsbury products online might help you come up with an alternative from where you’re located. Be sure to report back what you end up using!
The Pillsbury crescent line can be found here if you want to peruse the products: http://www.pillsbury.com/products/crescents
Puff pastry cut in a square and folded over into a triangle works really well.
Hi – try using cresent rolls, pinch seams together, then cut in squares, I think they make a cresent roll out rectangular crust, that would work also, or you can try using puff pastry that you get in freezer section, I think it’s made by Pepperidge farms
By mistake the other week I bought the Pillsbury round crescent rolls(must be something new?) which made it even easier. I filled mine with fresh blueberry filling and the cheese filling. So good! Although using these you only get 16.
Those do sound much easier! I haven’t seen them in stores around here (although I haven’t really looked either) but I’ll have to keep my eye out. Glad they worked out well for you!
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These are awesome! I made a savory version with veggie cream cheese, and sliced ham topped with cheddar cheese.
Sounds delicious! I bet those were a big hit. =)
Easy cheese Danish? I’m so in! Also, Nutella? Grossssssssss! I’m right there with you. But I Love Love LOVE cheese Danish.
Haha I thought I was alone in my distaste for Nutella! So glad I have a comrade. :D
These look wonderful. I’ll have to make 2 batches one for me and one for the family.
I’m sure your family will love you forever. :) A batch makes 24 so one *might* be enough.
Tried the recipe but was not thrilled with the taste of the dough. It tasted like cream cheese and cherries on a biscuit. I’m thinking maybe it was because I used the store brand crescent rolls instead of pillsbury.
I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you! I definitely think Pillsbury brand tends to run a little sweeter than the store brands I’ve tried. Also, they definitely taste sweeter and softer the next day so if you baked them and ate them all in one day, maybe try making them a day in advance if you want to give them another go. And please let me know how they turn out if you try again!