Apple Cream Cheese Danish

Directions

• Make the apple filling: melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the chopped apples and stir to combine. In a separate bowl, mix the sugar, cornstarch and cinnamon. Add to the apples and butter, and stir to mix thoroughly. Reduce heat to medium low and cover. Cook, covered until the apples have softened somewhat and the juice they have released has thickened, stirring occasionally. Set aside to cool. To speed cooling, you can spread them in a shallow pan.
• Make the cream cheese filling: beat the cream cheese, lemon juice, lemon zest, and sugar until well-combined and sugar is dissolved. Add the egg yolk and beat until it is incorporated. Set aside.
• If using Danish pastry recipe, divide the pastry in half. Wrap half in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Roll the other half into a 10×14″ rectangle. Place the rectangle on parchment paper. For either danish dough or a sheet of puff pastry, measure 3 inches in the center. On each side of the center 3 inches, cut 6 diagonal slashes to the edge of the dough rectangle. This should make 5 diagonal strips On each end, cut a small rectangle tab. and remove the rest of the pastry Place in the refrigerator on a 1/4 sheet pan, and repeat with the second half of the dough or second puff pastry sheet. Place in the refrigerator and remove the first sheet.
• On the first cut sheet of dough, spread up to 1/2 of the cream cheese mixture on the center 3 inch strip. Spread up to 1/2 of the cooled apple mixture over the cream cheese mixture. Fold the bottom tab into the center, then crisscross the diagonal strips up the pastry, alternating sides. When you get to the top, tuck the top tab under the top two strips, and tuck the top two strips around the sides of the pastry braid. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and set aside. Repeat with the second cut sheet of dough. Set aside to proof, until puffy, about 30-40 minutes.
• When there are 10 minutes left in the rise time, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Whisk the egg white, milk, and cream together. Carefully brush the mixture on all of the exposed top parts of each pastry braid, being careful to not brush the cut edges, as that can seal them so they don’t expand while cooking.
• Place the two quarter pans on the same shelf in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate each pan 180 degrees and switch each pan to the other side of the oven shelf. Bake for 10-12 more minutes, until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 15 minutes.
• While the braids are cooling, make the glaze: whisk the powdered sugar, almond extract, milk, and cream together until no lumps remain. The glaze should be thin enough that when you lift up your spoon it can slowly drop off, but thick enough that it is not runny. Adjust the thickness by adding more sugar or milk as needed. Place in a small pastry bag or a small zip top bag. When the pastry has cooled, snip a tiny edge of the bag. Drizzle the glaze over the braids.