Homemade Cherry Danish

This Homemade Cherry Danish is going to be one of the most delicious things you ever make, and that’s a promise! The buttery, flaky pastry is swirled in circles, then topped with syrupy cherries and baked to golden brown perfection.

I’m going to show you, step by step, how to create beautiful pastries that you’ll be proud to serve. Friends, make this recipe and I promise you’ll never buy danish from the store again!

My dad is one of those enigma types of people. He has reached great levels of success in his life, but his tastes remain super simple. He is the kind of person who will drive his very fancy car 10 miles out of the way because he found a gas station where gas is cheaper.

He refuses to eat in a restaurant without a coupon. And when he comes up from Florida to visit, he has but one simple request – cherry danishes from the grocery store. Not the bakery. The grocery store.

I’ll admit, making Homemade Cherry Danish is a bit of a project. But the end result is nothing short of mind blowing. And even Dad agrees, it’s way better than the grocery store.

Ingredients for this Homemade Cherry Danish Recipe

Here is what you’ll need to make these homemade danishes:

• All purpose flour
• Active dry yeast
• Salted butter
• Cherry pie filling
• Milk
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Salt

How to make danish pastry dough

The type of dough used to make danish is the same as what’s used for croissant dough. It’s called laminated dough. Lamination is the process of layering cold butter into dough by rolling and folding it over and over. This creates lots of buttery, flaky layers in the dough.

You can then use the dough to form it into croissant shapes or, in our case, pretty swirls of danish.

Making laminated dough is complicated in terms of the number of steps, but is not actually hard to do. You’ll need two days, though, as it has to be refrigerated overnight.

How to make Homemade Cherry Danish

I’ve included as much detail as possible in the recipe steps so that you can be successful.

Follow the steps and you’ll have the most buttery, flaky Homemade Cherry Danish you’ve ever had. Way better than the supermarket. Like, not even in the same universe as the supermarket. Here we go:

Day One

Today, you’ll make the actual dough. This won’t take long at all.

Just combine the flour, salt, sugar, yeast, eggs, milk and butter to form the dough. The best way to do this is to sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl and then gradually add the wet ingredients.

The dough will rise for a few hours, and then we’ll roll it out into a rectangular shape.

Then, refrigerate the dough overnight. Day one, done.

Day Two

Here’s where things get wild.

First, we have to roll out the cold butter. Place the cold butter in between two pieces of parchment and roll it out until it’s half the size of the dough. It helps to slice the butter blocks crosswise so that you’re starting with thinner pieces.

Rolling out the cold butter is the hardest part. It’s more about tamping the butter down with the rolling pin, then rolling a few times, then tamping down again. You might break a sweat. I always do!

Just get that butter rectangle to measure 10×6″ and you’re good.

The rest is just more rolling, folding the dough over itself, and chilling. Repeat the rolling, folding and chilling process a few times, and then you’ll be ready to bake. Here are the steps:

1. Place the butter onto half of the dough.

Fold the other half over the butter.

Roll it out again.

Then, rotate the dough 90 degrees. Fold the 2 short ends into the center so that they meet each other.

Now, fold one half over the other, like you’re closing a book. Chill the dough.

2. Bring the dough back out of the fridge and roll it out again. Now, fold the rectangle into thirds: fold one short end 1/3 of the way in…

… and fold the other short end over it. Chill the dough.

3. Bring the dough out again, roll it out and do the 1/3 folding one more time. Chill the dough.

4. After the final refrigeration, you’re ready to work with the dough! Roll it back out into a rectangle and slice 1″ thick strips from long end to long end.

Twist the dough strips…

… and then form the strips into circles.

Let the dough rise a second time on the counter top. Then, it’s time to fill our danishes.

Preparing the homemade cherry danish for baking

You want to form a very deep indentation in the center of each danish. I use my fingers to do this because I really want to press down as much as I can. Then, place only 1-2 cherries in each danish. You’ll see that a little goes a long way when it comes to the cherry filling.

Brush your danishes with egg wash and bake.

Once they have cooled, drizzle them with the sugar glaze.

 Tips for Success

• When making fruit filled pastries, a little bit of fruit goes a long way. That pesky fruit filling just loves to explode in the oven. So, after you form the danish shapes, make sure to create a very deep well in the center. I’m talking, as deep as possible without actually putting a hole in the dough. Then, fill the center with no more than one or two cherries.

Any more than that and the filling will seep out onto the pretty danish and you’ll be upset. Been there, trust me.

If this happens to you, don’t fret! Just add a few more cherries after baking to cover up any mishaps that may have occurred in the oven. No harm done.

• It’s a good idea to use a food scale to measure out the ingredients. Always important in baking, and very important in this recipe.
• Go for Irish butter over regular butter. It has a higher fat content that is necessary to get those super flaky layers.

• When you’re ready to roll out the butter, slice the blocks crosswise to create two thinner rectangles. Line them up next to each other. This will make rolling easier. 
• You’re going to be moving the dough in and out of the refrigerator quite a few times during the preparation process. I like to use a large cutting board to roll out the dough. Then, I cover the entire board with plastic wrap and refrigerate it. This way, I’m moving the dough right on its work surface in and out of the fridge without having to wrap it individually each time. If you have a large cutting board, I’d recommend using it as a portable work surface.

• Try to move as efficiently as you can through the steps and get the dough back into the fridge. The idea is to keep the butter cold. If the butter starts to melt and it gets difficult to roll out the dough, pop it into the refrigerator for 20 minutes. Take it back out and resume the step you were working on.

Can you freeze Danish pastry?

You can freeze danish pastry both before and after it is baked. Before baking, form the danish dough into the desired shapes and arrange them on a baking tray. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Then, wrap the unbaked danish pastries individually in plastic wrap.

Place the danishes into an airtight container or heavy-duty freezer bag for storage. When ready to bake, defrost the pastry at room temperature and follow the baking instructions below.

If the danish is already baked, simply wrap each one individually in plastic wrap, followed by a plastic bag or airtight container. It’s nice to be able to pop out individual pastries on weekend mornings when we want a special brunch treat.

I hope you enjoy the beautiful process of making this very special Homemade Cherry Danish. I know you’ll enjoy eating it! And I’d love to hear how it goes, so drop a rating or leave a comment below. Enjoy!

For more sweet breakfast treats, try these:

• Blueberry Lemon Muffins with Citrus Crumble
• Sticky Bun Monkey Bread
• Chocolate Cinnamon Pull Apart Bread