Let’s make homemade breakfast pastries using a variation of classic Danish pastry dough. We’re working the butter directly into the dough, which is a different method from laminating it with separate layers of butter. These breakfast pastries are buttery and flaky with sweet fillings and a drizzle of vanilla icing. For best success, use the video tutorial and photos, as well as the carefully explained recipe for guidance.
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
Do you remember when I published a shortcut variation of Danish pastry dough? You might not—it was several years ago! Since then, I’ve created a raspberry pastry braid and a blueberry cream cheese pastry braid using that same dough. Let’s take it a step further and make individual homemade breakfast pastries.
Researching their origin, I learned that traditional Danish pastries came to life around the 1850s by Austrian bakers working in Denmark. What started as the Austrian pastry known as Plundergebäck developed into what is now known as danishes. There are many ways to make, top, shape, and serve these pastries and that usually depends on the region. Here in the US, we can usually find them topped with fruit, jams, and sweetened cream cheese fillings. Bottom line: we’re all so very thankful for these sweets!
This is a Shortcut Homemade Pastry
Before I describe these homemade pastries and show you how to make them, let me explain this pastry dough variation. This is a shortcut version—it’s not the traditional method of making real danishes. This dough is usually laminated several times between layers of butter, similar to how we prepare homemade croissants and croissant bread. Here we are working the butter directly into the dough using a food processor. We’re still rolling out and folding the dough, just as you do when you laminate dough with butter, but we’re not folding it up with a separate layer of butter.
I use the term “shortcut” loosely as this dough still takes at least 5-6 hours total with 2 rounds of refrigeration. They’re just as buttery and flaky as the real thing!
Are you looking for a dough that’s more similar to puff pastry? We skip the lamination in this rough puff pastry dough as well. (And that recipe skips yeast unlike today’s yeasted dough, which creates slightly puffier pastries.)
I have the full written recipe below, as well as step-by-step photos and careful explanations below the recipe. This post is rather long, so I wanted to add most of the details below the recipe. I can’t wait for you to try these at home!
These Homemade Breakfast Pastries Are:
- Made from a modified yeasted pastry dough
- Crisp, flaky, & extra buttery
- Ready for your favorite breakfast pastry fillings
- Topped with sweet vanilla icing
Plus, you can easily make this dough in 1 morning or over the course of 3 days. I love make-ahead dough where you have plenty of options in terms of timing. You can also freeze half the dough if 16 pastries are too many or even make 8 pastries and 1 pastry braid!
Filling Ideas
You need around 2/3 cup of filling for the entire recipe (16 breakfast pastries). Feel free to mix and match, creating different flavors in your batch.
- Jam or Preserves, such as raspberry, peach, or strawberry
- Pumpkin Butter or Apple Butter
- Lemon Curd
- Cherry Pie Filling
- Nutella
- Cream Cheese Filling (my favorite and detailed in the recipe below)
Use This Dough to Make Pastry Braids
I love a versatile dough! Just as we can use pizza dough to make pizza, cheesy breadsticks, garlic knots, and pepperoni pizza rolls, we can use this homemade pastry dough to make individual pastries and pastry braids. I haven’t perfected other shapes yet, but feel free to try. Make sure you chill any shaped pastries before baking to help guarantee they hold their shape. See step 13 and corresponding recipe note below.
Baker’s Tip: I find that the braids bake up even flakier than the individual pastries! I have a video tutorial showing you how to shape this pastry braid. It’s easier than it looks.
See Your Breakfast Pastries!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
Step-by-step photos below!
PrintBreakfast Pastries with Shortcut Homemade Dough
- Prep Time: 6 hours (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 6 hours, 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 pastries
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Danish
Description
These homemade breakfast pastries use a variation of classic Danish pastry dough. We’re working the butter directly into the dough, which is a different method from laminating it with separate layers of butter. Make sure the butter is very cold before beginning. This recipe yields 2 pounds of dough.
Ingredients
Pastry Dough
- 1/4 cup (60ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
- 2 and 1/4 teaspoons Platinum Yeast from Red Star (1 standard packet)*
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole milk, at room temperature (between 68–72°F, 20-22°C)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 14 Tablespoons (196g) unsalted butter, cold
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for generously flouring hands, surface, and dough
Filling
- 2/3 cup filling (see recipe notes for options & cheese filling)
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk
Vanilla Icing (Optional)
- 1 cup (120g) confectioners’ sugar
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk or heavy cream
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preliminary note: To help guarantee success, I recommend reading through the recipe, watching the video tutorial, and reading the explanations below this recipe. (All answer many FAQs.) Do not use an electric mixer for this dough. It’s best if the dough is folded together with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula since it is so sticky. There is very minimal mixing required.
- Make the Pastry Dough: Whisk the warm water, yeast, and 1 Tablespoon (6g) of sugar together in a large bowl. Cover and allow to rest until foamy on top, about 5 minutes. If the surface doesn’t have bubbles on top or look foamy after 15 minutes (it should if the yeast isn’t expired), start over with a fresh packet of yeast. Whisk in remaining sugar, the milk, egg, and salt. Once these wet ingredients are mixed together, lightly cover and set the bowl aside as you work on the next step.
- Cut the cold butter into 1/4 inch slices and add to a food processor or blender. Top with 2 and 1/2 cups flour. Pulse the mixture 12-15 times, until butter is crumbled into pea-size bits. See photo below for a visual. Using a food processor or blender is best for this dough. Keeping that in mind, if you don’t have one, you can use a pastry cutter to work in the butter.
- Pour the flour mixture into the wet yeast mixture. Very gently fold everything together using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Fold *just until* the dry ingredients are moistened. The butter must remain in pieces and crumbles, which creates a flaky pastry. Turn the sticky dough out onto a large piece of plastic wrap, parchment paper, aluminum foil, or into any container you can tightly cover.
- 1st Refrigeration: Wrap the dough/cover up tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 48 hours.
- Roll & Fold: Take the dough out of the refrigerator to begin the “rolling and folding” process. If the dough sat for more than 4 hours, it may have slightly puffed up and that’s ok. (It will deflate as you shape it, which is also ok.) Very generously flour a work surface. The dough is very sticky, so make sure you have more flour nearby as you roll and fold. Using the palm of your hands, gently flatten the dough into a small square. Using a rolling pin, roll out into a 15×8 inch rectangle. When needed, flour the work surface and dough as you are rolling. Fold the dough into thirds as if it were a business letter. (See photos and video tutorial.) Turn it clockwise and roll it out into a 15 inch long rectangle again. Then, fold into thirds again. Turn it clockwise. You’ll repeat rolling and folding 1 more time for a total of 3 times.
- 2nd Refrigeration: Wrap up/seal tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. You can also freeze the dough at this point. See freezing instructions.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Rimmed baking sheets are best because butter may leak from the dough as it bakes. If you don’t have rimmed baking sheets, when it’s time to preheat the oven, place another baking sheet on the oven rack below to catch any butter that may drip.
- Take the dough out of the refrigerator and cut it in half. Wrap 1 half up and keep refrigerated as you work with the first half. (You can freeze half of the dough at this point, use the freezing instructions below.)
- Shape into rounds: Cut the first half of dough into 8 even pieces. This will be about 1/4 cup of dough per pastry. Roll each into balls. Flatten each into a 2.5 inch circle. Use your fingers to create a lip around the edges. See photos and video tutorial if needed. Press the center down to flatten the center as much as you can so you can fit the filling inside. (Center puffs up as it bakes.) Arrange pastries 3 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. Repeat with second half of dough.
- Spoon 2 teaspoons of fruity filling or 1 Tablespoon of cheese filling inside each.
- Egg Wash: Whisk the egg wash ingredients together. Brush on the edges of each shaped pastry.
- This step is optional, but I very strongly recommend it. Chill the shaped pastries in the refrigerator, covered or uncovered, for at least 15 minutes and up to 1 hour. See recipe note. You can preheat the oven as they finish up chilling.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Bake for 19-22 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Some butter may leak from the dough, that’s completely normal and expected. Feel free to remove the baking sheets from the oven halfway through baking and brush the dough with any of the leaking butter, then place back in the oven to finish baking. (That’s what I do!)
- Remove baked pastries from the oven. Cool for at least 5 minutes before icing/serving.
- Make the icing: Whisk the icing ingredients together. If you want a thicker icing, whisk in more confectioners’ sugar. If you want a thinner icing, whisk in more milk or cream. Drizzle over warm pastries and serve.
- Cover leftover iced or un-iced pastries and store at room temperature for 1 day or in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or you can freeze them for up to 3 months. Thaw before serving. Before enjoying, feel free to reheat leftover iced or un-iced pastries in the microwave for a few seconds until warmed.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Prepare the dough as instructed in steps 2-4. At this point the dough can be refrigerated up to 48 hours. You can also prepare the dough through step 6. At this point the dough can be refrigerated up to 24 hours. During or after this second chilling time, you could also freeze the dough for up to 1 month. (I don’t recommend freezing the dough before the rolling and folding step.) Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then continue with step 8. You can also freeze the unfilled pastries after shaping them in step 10. Thaw in the refrigerator, then continue with step 11.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Wooden Spoon or Rubber Spatula | Whisk | Glass Mixing Bowl | Food Processor, Blender, or Pastry Cutter | Rolling Pin | Rimmed Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Pastry Brush
- Fruity Fillings: You need around 2/3 cup (about 200g) of filling for the entire recipe (16 pastries). Use jam or fruit preserves, pumpkin butter, apple butter, lemon curd, cherry pie filling, etc. Or even Nutella! You need 2 heaping teaspoons per pastry. Feel free to mix and match, making different flavors in your batch.
- Cheese Filling: Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment on medium speed, beat one 8 ounce block (224g) of full-fat cream cheese that is softened at room temperature in a medium bowl until smooth. Beat in 1 large egg yolk, 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract until smooth. Use 1 scant Tablespoon per pastry. Feel free to dot the cream cheese filling with fresh berries before baking or mix fruit preserves in with the cream cheese filling (still using 2-3 teaspoons of filling per pastry).
- Temperature & Substitutions: The temperature of your ingredients is imperative to this pastry’s success. Make sure you take the time to warm the water and bring the milk to room temperature. Keep the butter in the refrigerator until you need it in step 3. I do not recommend any substitutions in this carefully formulated dough, though a lower fat or nondairy milk works in a pinch. For the egg wash and icing, low fat or nondairy milks work, as do heavy cream or half-and-half.
- Yeast: Platinum Yeast from Red Star is an instant yeast. If needed, you can use active dry yeast instead. The instructions and amount remain exactly the same regardless of which you use.
- Optional Step (step 13): Chilling the shaped pastries in the refrigerator helps them maintain their shape in the oven. Remember, cold pastry dough is best. I usually refrigerate them for 15 minutes as the oven preheats. If you’re nervous to chill the baking sheets in the refrigerator then bake them (which can cause warping), you have two other options. You can simply assemble the pastries on parchment paper or silicone baking mats, lift the parchment/baking mat as a whole and place on another baking sheet or directly onto a shelf in the refrigerator. After chilling, carefully lift up and place the entire parchment/baking mat onto the baking sheets for baking. Or you can use a thin spatula and very carefully transfer the assembled unbaked pastries to a large plate to chill.
- Halve the Recipe? I don’t recommend halving this dough recipe. Make the dough as written, then freeze half after step 9. Or make 8 breakfast pastries and 1 pastry braid (cream cheese or raspberry).
- Dough recipe adapted from Cooking Illustrated, Joy of Cooking, and Beatrice Ojakangas
Keywords: breakfast pastries, danishes, pastry
Detailed Explanations: How to Make Homemade Breakfast Pastries
This yeasted pastry dough comes together with 8 basic ingredients.
- Water: You need 2 liquids in this dough recipe: warm water and room temperature milk. Don’t use all water or all milk; this careful balance is key. Mix the warm water with yeast and some granulated sugar. Cover and wait until the top is a little foamy, as pictured below. (You will do this step no matter if you are using instant yeast or active-dry yeast.)
- Yeast: You can use active dry yeast or instant yeast. The instructions, amount, and recipe do not change– you will still do each of these exact steps regardless of which type you use. I recommend Platinum Yeast from Red Star, which is an instant yeast that is blended with natural dough improvers.
- Granulated Sugar: Sugar sweetens this dough and feeds the yeast. Use 1 Tablespoon at first, then add the rest of the sugar when you whisk in the milk, egg, and salt.
- Whole Milk: Use room temperature milk, not warm milk. For best taste and texture, I strongly recommend whole milk.
- Egg: 1 egg tenderizes the dough. Don’t skip it!
- Salt: Adds flavor.
- All-Purpose Flour: You need flour in the dough, plus a generous amount for the rolling, folding, and shaping steps. As you can see in my video tutorial above, it’s helpful to have plenty of extra flour on hand. I use a lot of it!
- Cold Butter: Butter is the main ingredient in this dough recipe– you will work it directly into the flour, forming pea-sized crumbles. Just like when we make pie crust or biscuits, make sure the butter is extra cold. If the butter isn’t cold, the butter will melt, the dough will turn to semi-liquid, and you won’t have any layers or flakes in your pastry. The colder the butter (and dough), the better results.
After the yeast has proofed and foamed (above), whisk in the rest of the sugar, the milk, egg, and salt. We’ll call these the wet ingredients:
You need a food processor blender for this recipe. If you have neither, use a pastry cutter to cut the cold butter into the flour. An electric mixer will not work for this step. You are looking for pea-size crumbles of flour coated butter. This step is only possible if the butter is cold.
Pour the butter/flour crumbles into the wet ingredients and fold it together using a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. It is very sticky. Since this dough is so sticky, I do not recommend using an electric mixer. It will create a huge mess! There is minimal mixing required anyway– we don’t want to overwork this dough.
You’ll notice many bits of butter still visible in the dough– that’s a GOOD thing! Wrap the dough up tightly and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 48 hours.
This is the 1st refrigeration.
Shortcut Lamination
Now let’s do a variation of laminating aka rolling and folding dough and butter together. Remember when we made croissants and laminated the dough with a sheet of butter? The butter is IN this pastry dough. So, instead, we’re just rolling and folding the dough itself. Roll it out into a 15×8 inch rectangle:
Fold it in thirds like a letter:
Turn it clockwise:
Then roll it out into a 15-inch rectangle again. Repeat the folding. Turn it clockwise again. Repeat rolling and folding 1 more time for a total of 3 times. Wrap the laminated dough up tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours.
This is the 2nd refrigeration.
How to Shape Homemade Breakfast Pastries
This dough recipe yields 16 breakfast pastries. See recipe note above about halving/freezing the dough. Cut the dough in half. (Work with only half the dough at once. Wrap half up and refrigerate until ready to use.) Cut the half of dough into 8 pieces. Roll into balls:
Flatten each into a 2.5 inch circle. Use your fingers to create a lip around the edges. Arrange pastries 3 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. Repeat with second half of dough.
Spoon your filling of choice inside each, then brush the edges of the pastries with egg wash, which is a combination of 1 egg and milk.
What is the purpose of an egg wash? It guarantees a shiny and crisp golden crust.
To help guarantee the shaped pastries hold their shape, chill them in the refrigerator as the oven preheats and even up to 1 hour. (See recipe note above.)
Bake until the breakfast pastries are golden brown. Cool for a few minutes, then drizzle with vanilla icing and serve!
These are super flaky and the cream cheese filling is perfect!
★★★★★
Loved these breakfast pastries! Though tried to make a few with lemon curd and the lemon curd did not bake well in oven. The cheese filling was delicious!
★★★★★
This is my first challenge and I was excited to put on a variety of toppings —- Nutella, marmalade, strawberry jam and even made the lemon curd!
Thanks for the easy to follow recipe!
I filled these with a quick blueberry filling that I made up and they were so good! My first time making any kind of pastry dough like this and it was fun to try something new.
★★★★★
These are definitely a time commitment and my kiddos impatiently stared at these all day 🙂 but wow! They were delicious and you can make so many flavor variations.
★★★★★
This is a great recipe! I watched the video first, and that made following the written instructions much easier. It’s fairly easy to make, and is DELICIOUS.
★★★★★
Would you please tell about the butter 14 spoons equals 1 1/2 stick or more
Hi Irene, One stick of butter usually equals 8 tablespoons of butter. So here you would need one stick plus 6 tablespoons of the second stick. Or if you have a kitchen scale you can measure out 205g of butter.
So good. I ate 3 before the next morning . Very easy recipe to follow and even easier if you break it up into two days. Thank you for sharing another awesome recipe.
★★★★★
The detailed instructions made these breakfast pastries an easy success!
★★★★★
When I was searching for a cake recipe for my grandfathers birthday, I obliviously went to this baking blog. While I was searching for a recipe I came across the August Baking Challenge, and I got super exited! I did these amazing pastries as the breakfast, and him and my family loved them, and I will definitely be going back to this recipe in the future!
★★★★★
I tried both the round style and the braids with the other dough half. It was challenging and fun but best of all delicious 🙂 Now I’m wondering what deserves to be eaten with the left over cream cheese filling…
This was my first time ever working with yeast and it turned out to be so easy and lots of fun!
I filled mine with a lemon curd/cheesecake raspberry preserve/cheesecake combo and they were an absolute hit!
Love this recipe!! It was super easy to follow and a lot of fun to make! Everyone was impressed and thought the braid looked pretty. Got asked to make this again because everyone loved it and thought it was the best pastry ever. The pastry itself is so soft and flaky, and not to mention the filling is super yummy !
★★★★★
Absolutely loved this recipe! The pastries are so soft and flaky and the recipe so easy to follow
Filled mine with homemade apple jam, sureau jam, the cream cheese filling and Nutella. As a chocoholic I loved the Nutella one the most! Was super surprised by the cream cheese filling tough it’s deliceous. Can’t wait for the next challange 😀
This was such a fun and easy to follow recipe for a first time pastry maker! Made a raspberry jam filling and cream cheese filling. Will definitely be making these again
★★★★★
I really enjoyed making this recipe! I was able to get the dough started a few days ahead so it wasn’t rushed. I made a cherry pastry braid and an apple pastry braid. The cream cheese danish filling really makes the recipe!
★★★★★
These were so good! I plan on making them again and again!
★★★★★
Loved this recipe! It’s a bit time consuming, but still easy (and your instructions are so clear!). I made a cream cheese blood orange giant danish, it was so good 🙂 The dough was so soft and flaky.
★★★★★
Delicious and easy to make! I mixed cream cheese filling (your recipe) with blueberry jam and lingonberry jam for two different flavors and they came out so good. I had to eat one of each to be sure. This may be what I bake for Christmas goodies for the neighbors instead of cookies this year.
★★★★★
I made this recipe as a pastry braid with Sally’s cream cheese filling and a modified apple pie filling that I cooked a few minutes to make sure the apples were tender even with the short baking time. My daughter, who eats all my desserts but dislikes pie crust said it was the best thing I have ever made and the flaky pastry was delicious. My younger daughter who doesn’t eat any of my desserts ate a whole piece and asked for another. My son who takes one bite of all desserts, says “Yum!”, and then doesn’t take any other bites finished the whole piece. All in all, this is a wonderful recipe.
★★★★★
This were easier to make than I excepted and they turned out great! I used strawberry jam and cream cheese filling for mine and both tasted delicious.
★★★★★
These were delicious! I made Nutella and banana, blueberry basil, cinnamon peach and raspberry jam, as fillings. I thought the dough took a long time to make but was worth the wait! Thank you for the recipe!
★★★★
This is a great recipe! I used apricot preserves and a cream cheese frosting drizzle on mine. Delectable!
★★★★★
Thanks! I think I will try these tomorrow!
★★★★★
These pastries are so much better than store-bought and the size was perfect! The dough was super easy even though it had multiple steps. I forgot to refrigerate them right before putting them in the oven, so they expanded a bit and the strawberry jam filling spilled off a bit, but it didn’t change the fact that they tasted amazing!!
★★★★★
I love this recipe. It is fun to have a fairly simple recipe with what feels like fancy results 🙂 I’ve made these several times and will make them again. My favourite filling combination so far is the cheese filling with fresh berries on top.
★★★★★
The breakfast pastries were a challenge to make but the end result was awesome. I used very little sugar and made the pastries with Nutella (my kids favorite), cheese filling and homemade raspberries preserves. When I bake I usually share with my elderly neighbors who during this COVID time are inside only. They loved it since I made it less sweet. Though it took some time, it was the best recipe for the breakfast pastries. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
★★★★★
My husband an I loved this recipe, so quick and easy to make, made some extra dough to freeze and did this recipe around 8 times by now.
★★★★★
I loved this recipe! I’ve always been intimidated by yeasted doughs, so this was my first try and the step-by-step photos (plus video) made it so easy. The dough was incredibly sticky and I was a bit worried about over-flouring, but they turned out delicious: just super flaky and buttery. I filled mine with the cream cheese filling, raspberry jam, and lemon curd — and (not so) accidentally ate four of them in one day. Thank you!
★★★★★
These really weren’t flaky. I might try actual dough lamination if I try it again.
★★