Cheesy Cherry Danish

By pattie_d

Great Danish!
This is, hands down, the world's BEST guilt-free Danish. You may actually cry tears of joy when you taste it. Please, please, PLEASE make it this week and report back to us. It is LIFE-CHANGINGLY delicious. A TREMENDOUS HG thanks goes out to subscriber Lauren for helping to develop this recipe.

Ingredients

• For Danish
• 1 package Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations refrigerated dough
• Half an 8-oz. tub fat-free cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup frozen dark sweet cherries, thawed
• 1/4 cup regular oats (not instant)
• 2 tbsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
• 1 tbsp. light vanilla soymilk (or skim milk)
• 1/4 tsp. almond extract
• For Icing
• 1 tbsp. Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme
• 1 tbsp. Cool Whip Free, thawed
• 1/2 tbsp. Splenda No Calorie Sweetener (granulated)
• 1 tsp. powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 1 drop vanilla extract

Details

Adapted from hungry-girl.com

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To make the icing, combine Splenda, powdered sugar, and cornstarch in a small microwave-safe bowl. Add 1/2 tbsp. cold water and the vanilla extract, and mix until ingredients have dissolved. Add Marshmallow Creme and microwave for 5 seconds, or until creme is soft enough to fold into mixture. Stir until smooth. Add Cool Whip and stir again, until evenly combined. Refrigerate icing until you're ready to ice the Danish.

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, oats, Splenda, soymilk (or skim milk), and almond extract, and stir until thoroughly mixed. Fold in cherries and set aside. This is your filling.

Spray a large baking sheet with nonstick spray. Lay out your dough on the sheet and (using a rolling pin, a can, or your hands) lightly roll it out into a long rectangle of even thickness. Arrange baking sheet in front of you so that the short sides are on the left and right and the long sides are on the top and bottom. Spoon cherry filling lengthwise across the middle third of the dough, leaving 1-inch borders on the left and right of the filling.

Along the top third of the dough, cut slits down from the top of the dough toward the filling, stopping about 1/2 inch away from the filling -- space slits about 1 inch apart from each other. Repeat on the bottom part of the rectangle, cutting upward toward the filling. This will create 1-inch-wide strips of dough on both the top and bottom of the filling.

Starting at one side, alternate folding the 1-inch strips from the top and the bottom over the filling, covering filling completely and creating a criss-crossed, "braided" appearance. After all the strips have been folded, fold the short sides of the dough in toward the filling, so filling cannot escape, and pat firmly to seal.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, until pastry is crispy and golden brown. Allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.

Just before serving, drizzle entire Danish with icing. Cut into 9 slices and indulge! (P.S. Refrigerate leftovers.)

MAKES 9 SERVINGS

Serving Size: 1/9th of Danish
Calories: 118
Fat: 4.25g
Sodium: 275mg
Carbs: 17g
Fiber: 0.5g
Sugars: 5g
Protein: 3.5g

PointsPlus® value 3*

HG Heads Up! A serving of our rockin' Danish is 1/9th of the pastry, just like today's competitor. But feel free to cut your Danish into 8 slices, and each slice will have 132 calories, 4.75g fat, and a PointsPlus® value of 4*. Still a bargain, people!