Recipe of the Month: Baked Cream Cheese Pastry

by GRP biathlete Margie Freed

Going along with the baked dish theme from last month, pan recipes are quite delicious and easy for the holidays. Did you ever have Butter Braids from a school fundraiser? This pastry has a similar taste and texture with buttery dough, just with more filling. If you have little ones running around the house that want to help in the kitchen, this is a simple enough recipe, using basic baking techniques for learning, but tastes amazing and everyone can enjoy. This recipe is adapted from influencer ‘Bradley on a Budget’ so you can probably tell it is also cost effective.

Ingredients:

16 oz cream cheese
2 cans croissant roll dough
1 ¼ c sugar
1 t vanilla
½ c butter
1 t cinnamon

Instructions:

Mix cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla in a kitchen mixer for about 5 minutes until fully combined and smooth, to almost a whipped texture. Place parchment paper on the bottom of a 9x12inch or similar sized baking pan, then lay out the croissant dough from one can flat on top of it. Preheat the oven to 350°F degrees. 

Spread the cream cheese mixture onto the dough in the middle, being sure to leave an inch open on the edges. Place the second can of dough directly on top, and then crimp the edges together. You can either fold the bottom dough up and pinch or make it similar to a pie crust edge, just be sure that the cream cheese filling will not spill out. 

Pour melted butter on top of the whole pastry. Mix the remaining ¼ c sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle an even amount around the top. 

Bake for about 25 minutes. Check after 20 minutes, as the top should be golden brown. If there are any pools of butter, simply spread it out. 

Let the pastry cool almost completely before cutting into squares and serving.