Simple Cream Cheese Pastry

This post may contain affiliate links.  See my disclosure for more information.

Jump to recipe

Try this simple cream cheese pastry for your next brunch. It’s made with just a handful of ingredients and bakes up quickly. It is one of our favorites!

Call it a Danish, coffee cake, or pastry…this cream cheese filled delight will wow you.  And it’s really easy to throw together.  Double win.

This is one of my husband’s favorites, but I don’t make it a lot because it’s not especially healthy.  And by ‘especially healthy’ I mean, not healthy at all.  But it’s soooooo good.  It is a regular on the menu for our Christmas brunch, and if he’s lucky, we’ll have a few other brunch opportunities throughout the year.  And sometimes, like today, I’m just surprising him with it on a blustery day.

Am I the only one who thinks of Winnie the Pooh whenever I hear the phrase “blustery day”??

–

 

But I digress…

 

Cream Cheese Pastry

You start with a rather simple cast of ingredients:  cream cheese, crescent dough (the sheets if you can find them), butter, cinnamon, sugar, vanilla and eggs.  Optional ingredients really take this to the next level.  I like to top half with chopped pecans (since not everyone likes nuts), but slivered or sliced almonds would be yummy too.

When I make this for a brunch, I’ll usually do one plain and one with fruit.  Blueberries are my favorite, but you could add any variety.  If you’re adding berries, just sprinkle them on top of the cream cheese layer.

I’ve tried making this with a homemade pastry.  And it was….okay.  It’s just not the same.  If you would like to try it with a homemade pastry, here’s the one I used (I used white flour instead of whole wheat in this recipe).  I have used this dough recipe for lots of other things with success, BTW.

It’s a pretty simple process, like I said.  Dough, cream cheese mixture, dough again, topping, bake.

 

When Greg heard I was making this today, he said, “Merry Christmas!” and clapped.  Any recipe that gets applause should be shared, right?

 

So if you’re in need of some affirmation today…make this, you just might get applause, too!