Raspberry was the Herb of the Year 2020. Like everything else in 2020 it was not celebrated. But I embraced it, bought plants to sell and plant and made raspberry cheese danishes. It belongs to the genus rubus which also includes blackberries, gooseberries and more. There are red raspberries and black raspberries. Red raspberry leaves are valued for the ingredient in tea which is considered beneficial to women in their menstrual cycles, childbirth and menopause. I am in love with all things puff pastry, cream cheese and now after 2020, raspberry. So I share with you a Food Network recipe (Trisha Yearwood) for Easy Cheese Danish to which I added raspberries. Raspberries impart a hint of floral, citrus and spice flavors which in a danish is so perfect. There will be more on raspberry as a plant in the spring days to come in the Plants blog. But for now:
Easy Cheese Danish
Ingredients:
1 large egg plus 1 yolk
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 tablespoons of sugar, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
One 17.3 ounce box frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed
About 2 dozen fresh raspberries
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line 2 baking pans with parchment paper
Beat the whole egg with 1 teaspoon of water in a small bowl; set aside.
Beat the egg yolk, cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth.
Lay out the 2 sheets of puff pastry and cut each sheet into 4 squares. Fold the corners of the squares over by about 1 inch to make octagon shapes. Use some of the egg wash to keep the corners folded down onto the base of pastry. Spoon the cream cheese mixture evenly into the center of each (about 2 Tbsp per); do not spread the cream cheese. Add 2-3 raspberries to the cream cheese portion. Brush all of the exposed pastry with the egg wash, then dust generously with sugar.
Bake until puffed and golden brown all over, about 18 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.
I used a cookie dough scoop to drop the 2 Tbsp of cream cheese mixture in the pastry. I did a more than generous dusting of sugar which added a needed sweetness but this is as per taste.