Crescent Roll Mini Cheese Danishes!

As I write this, a small pot of blueberries and sugar is bubbling on my stove, reducing in volume to become a thick sauce to crown the cheese danish that are about to be made.  I was inspired by a Pillsbury recipe for a short-cut, home-made danish made from crescent rolls. There are many bloggers who've covered this, but I wanted to fancy up the basic recipe a bit.  I'm baking mine in muffin tins.  I'm glazing them with an egg wash, and I'm using not only a delicious cheesecake filling, but also the blueberries.  All will be drizzled with a glaze of confectioners sugar, vanilla, and butter.  This is a complete experiment on my part, but something tells me that my bad-kitchen-karma of late has passed, and it's time for a successful project.  Last weekend's fallen coffee cake and those burnt apple pie muffins will banish from memory once these little gems come out of the oven (I'm hoping!).

So, here's the recipe, along with photos, so you can make your own mini-danish in a flash!

MINI-DANISH FROM PILLSBURY CRESCENT ROLLS
makes about 17
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.  Spray muffin tins with cooking spray.

Ingredients:
1 roll Pillsbury Crescent Rolls
1 egg, beaten
1/4 lb. cream cheese, room temperature (1/2 an 8 oz. block)
1/3 c. granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
2 teaspoons flour
1 heaping tablespoon sour cream

Fruit preserves or sauce*

*Blueberry sauce
Place 1 cup frozen blueberries in a small sauce pan.  Add 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/4 cup water.  Bring to boil.  Let bubble on a low flame until thickened, about 10 minutes until it thickens up and coats a spoon well. Watch carefully.  The sugar in it can burn if you let it go too long.  Remove from heat and let cool for about 1/2 hour.  It should be nice and thick.

Cheesecake filling:

Beat cream cheese with sugar and extracts, 1/2 of the beaten egg (about 2 tbsp.), flour, and sour cream until very smooth and creamy, scraping sides a couple of times.  Set aside.

Open crescent roll package and don't unroll the dough. On cutting board, slice the intact roll into 1/4" or so slices.  I got 17.

Press each slice into the bottom of a standard muffin cup in a 12-cup muffin tin and spray enough cups of an additional tin to accommodate the rest of your slices.

With your fingers, spread dough to cover bottom of muffin cup, and with your thumb, make a good indent in the middle, just about down to the bottom, to hold the filling.

Using the rest of the beaten egg, with pastry brush lightly brush surface of dough.  This will give a nice, shiny surface.

Using 2 spoons, drop a generous teaspoonful of cheesecake batter in the center of each danish.  Swirl it a bit to make a dip for the blueberry sauce, but make sure the edges are visible.  You want a dollop in the middle, not a spread of batter to the edges.  The drop about 1/2 teaspoon of your preserves, or my blueberry sauce (with blueberries) in the center of that.  It will flow down and around a little bit, that's OK.

Bake at 350 for 18 - 21 minutes or until crescent dough has puffed and taken on a golden color.  Watch carefully to make sure crescent dough doesn't get too dark. (Mine went for 21 minutes and probably would have been better at 19/20 - they got a little dark.)

Remove pans to cool on wire rack.  Remove from pans using small spatula, and cool completely on wire rack set over a piece of wax paper (or something else useful) to catch the glaze.

Make the glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon very soft or melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
UP TO 1 tablespoon milk or more.

Thoroughly combine, in small bowl with fork, powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla extract.  A bit at a time, add milk until it is the perfect drizzle consistency (flows slowly off a fork).  Drizzle over cooled danish.

Taste test result:  OMG!!!!  They are SOOO good! (and little).  Delish!