Love food giveth.... I taketh.....

The best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach --- how cliché but it’s true and I’ve proven it today. I think that right now I made it to my friend/co-worker’s “Favorite People” list when I brought her my easy cheese Danish. She was literally gushing over every bite as it reminds her of her trip to Paris. She should blog about the experience but it's my moment now - I get a different kind of high when friends appreciate what I make and that’s true I suppose amongst us kitchen slaves...lol…

I adapted the recipe from here and just substituted cream cheese with ricotta and of course, decreased the sugar as always- and I just used one big lemon. The result was a light and flaky danish that I will make again but with a different filling and better pictures.

Easy Ricotta Cheese Danish with Lemon Zest

Ingredients:
8 oz plus 2 tbsp ricotta cheese
⅓ cup sugar (I didn’t fill it to the rim so I decreased the sugar content in a way)
2 extra-large egg yolks, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest (2 lemons)
2 sheets (1 box) frozen puff pastry, defrosted
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Place the ricotta cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and cream them together on low speed until smooth.
With the mixer still on low, add the egg yolks, vanilla, salt, and lemon zest and mix until just combined. Don’t whip!
Unfold 1 sheet of puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll it slightly with a floured rolling pin until it’s a 10 by 10-inch square.
Cut the sheet into quarters with a sharp knife.
Place a heaping tablespoon of cheese filling into the middle of each of the 4 squares.
Brush the border of each pastry with egg wash and fold 2 opposite corners to the center, brushing and overlapping the corners of each pastry so they firmly stick together.
Brush the top of the pastries with egg wash.
Place the pastries on the prepared sheet pan.
Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry and refrigerate the filled Danish for 15 minutes.
Bake the pastries for about 20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking, until puffed and brown. Serve warm.