Breads, Rolls + Donuts Holidays Winter

Cranberry Cream Cheese Danish Braid

Cranberries and Cream Danish Braid | Sarah Kieffer | The Vanilla Bean Blog

Christmas is just around the corner. I’ve been baking for weeks (mostly recipe testing for my next book, but also holiday baking!), and must say this cranberries and cream Danish braid is one of my favorite things I’ve made this December, along with this White Chocolate Cranberry Christmas Cake.

The tart cranberries paired with cream cheese, sweet icing, and flaky Danish dough is just about perfection. If cranberries aren’t your thing, you could fill the braid with your favorite jam or curd.

Cranberries and Cream Danish Braid 
The Easy Danish Dough recipe is from my book, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book (affiliate link).
The cranberry filling is adapted from The America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook (affiliate link).

Easy Danish Dough
Notes: The dough does need to rest overnight in the refrigerator, so plan accordingly. If the dough is not used right away after being out and turned, it will puff up a bit in the refrigerator. This will make it a little harder to roll out, but you will still have good results.

Other recipes you might enjoy: Danish Braid with Apple and Cream Cheese, Good Morning Cheese Danish Slab Pie, St. Lucia Buns, Pistachio Chocolate Twist. 

Cranberries and Cream Danish Braid | Sarah Kieffer | The Vanilla Bean Blog
Cranberries and Cream Danish Braid | Sarah Kieffer | The Vanilla Bean Blog

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I’ve mentioned this before, but I do have holiday playlists if you need some Christmas tunes. On Spotify: My Holiday Mix from last year is here. My Classic Christmas Mix is here. And my Quiet Christmas Mix is here.) On Apple Music: Christmas FunEase Into ChristmasEase Into Christmas (Jazz and Classics Edition), and Christmas Albums.

I also just discovered local band Graveyard Club, and have been enjoying their latest album (affiliate link).

If you are a Tolkien or Narnia nerd, you may enjoy the book The Fellowship: The Literary Lives of the Inklings (affiliate link), by Zaleski. I just finished all 600+ pages of it, and recommend it.

I really loved this piece Endless Preparation: Apples and Women’s Work by Lyz Lenz.

Feist and Gonzales making music together. Love.

Now you have an excuse to buy all those books! (I’m standing by this.)

Ella Fitzgerald + Nat King Cole. Two of my very favorites.

Cranberries and Cream Danish Braid | Sarah Kieffer | The Vanilla Bean Blog
Cranberries and Cream Danish Braid | Sarah Kieffer | The Vanilla Bean Blog
cranberry danish

Cream Cheese Cranberry Danish Braid

Servings: 8 servings
Sarah Kieffer
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate

Ingredients

Easy Danish Dough

  • 3/4 cup whole milk warm (100-110F)
  • 1 large egg room temperature
  • 2 large egg yolks room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups 355g all-purpose flour
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons 1/2 stick | 57g unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 12 tablespoons 1 1/2 sticks | 170g unsalted butter, cold, cut in 1/2-inch pieces

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 6 ounces 170g cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/4 cup 50g sugar
  • Pinch salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2-1 teaspoon lemon juice

Cranberry Filling

  • 1 cup 198g granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 12-ounce bag fresh cranberries
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Glaze

  • 1 cup 113g confectioner’s sugar
  • 2-4 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Pinch salt

Instructions

  • In a large liquid measuring cup, combine the milk, egg, yolks, and vanilla.
  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt on low. Add the room temperature butter and mix on low until it is incorporated into the flour and no pieces are visible. Add the cold butter and mix on low, until it is broken down and smashed a bit, but still in 1/2-inch pieces. Add the milk mixture and mix on low until combined. The dough will be very sticky and there will be visible lumps of butter. Using a spatula, scrape the dough into the prepared bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight, or up to 3 days.
  • The next morning, transfer the dough to a well-floured work surface. Knead 10-12 times, until the dough forms a ball. Cover the top lightly with flour and cover with a tea towel, let rest until it comes to room temperature. Pat the dough into a 6-inch square and roll into a 16 by 20-inch rectangle. If the dough sticks at all, sprinkle more flour underneath it. Brush any excess flour off the dough, and, using a bench scraper, fold the short ends of the dough over the middle to made three layers, similar to a business letter. This is the first turn.
  • Flip the dough over (seam side down) and roll into an 8 x 16-inch rectangle. Fold the short ends over the middle, business letter style. Repeat the steps again, for a total of four turns.
  • On the last turn, gently use the rolling pin to compress the layers together slightly. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour before using or keep refrigerated for 2 days.

For the cream cheese filling

  • In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugar, salt, vanilla, and 1/2 teaspoon of lemon juice and mix on low until completely combined. Taste the filling, and add a little more lemon juice if the flavor is dull. (The filling shouldn’t taste like lemon, but a little bit of lemon juice will add a bright note to the filling. When tasting, look for a bit of a zing in your mouth that doesn’t scream lemon.) Cover the filling and set aside until ready to use.

For the cranberry filling

  • Bring the sugar, water, and salt to a boil in a medium nonreactive saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally to help dissolve the sugar. Stir in the cranberries and simmer until slightly thickened and the berries begin to pop, about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Cool to room temperature before using, about 1 hour (filling can be made ahead of time and refrigerated up to one week).

For the glaze

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioner’s sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla, and salt. Add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, to thin the icing to a preferred consistency.

To assemble

  • Cut the Danish dough in two equal pieces. Roll the first piece of dough into a 10 x 14-inch rectangle, using enough flour so the dough doesn’t stick to the surface or the rolling pin. Transfer the piece of dough to a piece of parchment paper (this will make moving the braid much easier). Spread half of the cream cheese filling down the center of the dough, about 1 1/2 inches wide. Top the cream cheese with about 3/4 cup of the cranberries. Carefully cut 1/2-inch thick strips of dough (a pastry cutter works best here), doing your best to make the strips even and equal on both sides. Starting with the top two pieces, gently twist then cross the pieces over the top of the filling. Continue the same motion of twisting the pieces and crossing them all the way down the braid. When you get to end of the braid, tuck the loose ends underneath the braid (this way they won’t pop out when baking). Repeat with the second piece of dough.
  • Move the braids (on the parchment) to baking sheets, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the braid rise until puffy (similar to a marshmallow when pressed), about 1-1 1/2 hours.
  • Adjust an oven rack to the lower middle position. Preheat the oven to 350F. (I like to bake mine one at a time, but you could bake them together – adjust oven racks instead to upper and lower middle positions, then rotate sheets to opposite oven racks half way through baking.)
  • Lightly brush the braids with egg wash. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the baking sheets to a wire rack and let cool slightly. Drizzle the cranberries and cream braids with the glaze.

Notes

* The dough does need to rest overnight in the refrigerator, so plan accordingly. If the dough is not used right away after being out and turned, it will puff up a bit in the refrigerator. This will make it a little harder to roll out, but you will still have good results.
  • Reply
    Rachel
    Monday, March 18, 2019 at 8:15 pm

    This is what a commercial pastry wishes it could be! Since I made this outside cranberry season, I used a jar of apricot preserves, but it was delicious. This may be my new favorite pastry recipe. While it didn’t quite look like the pictures, the powdered sugar glaze really made it look good. In sum, make sure to allot two nights so you have plenty of time. I can guarantee this will be a big hit.

  • Reply
    Di@Bibbyskitchen
    Tuesday, January 29, 2019 at 10:54 pm

    I love the little twisted pastry strips. A beautiful detail.

  • Reply
    Mallory
    Wednesday, January 16, 2019 at 1:46 pm

    I love your danish dough from your cookbook. The finished product is spot on. I have one question, the dough when proofing is losing it’s shape ( I have been making pinwheels or pockets). The finished product is more squares of danish with filling . Mind you, no one but me seems bothered by this and the only thing I can think is to not proof them as long ( they are nearly doubling in size) but the rise and lightness of the final product I am afraid would be lost. Wondering if you have any tips and if not, I am okay with danish squares. thanks!

  • Reply
    Becky
    Tuesday, December 18, 2018 at 10:09 pm

    I’m trying this recipe! The dough is in the fridge but it’s super wet! 2 1/2 cups of flour doesn’t seem like enough. I hope a miracle happens overnight;). I plan on baking it and freezing it for Christmas breakfast.

    • Reply
      Sarah
      Wednesday, December 19, 2018 at 8:18 am

      Hi Becky – the dough will be very sticky at first! It will rise in the fridge over night, and then be much easier to work with. I haven’t ever frozen the Danishes baked; let me know how they turn out!

  • Reply
    Natalie
    Monday, December 17, 2018 at 11:03 am

    Looks so delicious and perfect for brunch! I love danish braids!

  • Reply
    Sherry
    Monday, December 17, 2018 at 8:00 am

    This looks amazing. I cannot imagine mine looking nearly as nice as your creation, but I am happy to try! When the first braid is in the oven, do you pop the other one in the refrigerator to keep cool until it is its turn to bake?

    • Reply
      Sarah
      Wednesday, December 19, 2018 at 8:19 am

      Hi Sherry – I usually form the first braid, then wait a half hour and form the second, so they rise a different times, and then I can usually time the oven times fine. But you could just pop it in the refrigerator instead – that will work, too.

  • Reply
    Rust
    Monday, December 17, 2018 at 6:11 am

    A masterpiece! This looks scrumptious, wow, and so pretty!

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