Delish Thursday: Celebrating The Amazing American Cherry

Hi Friends!

Guess what? As I was preparing this article, I realized that we are smack dab in between National Cherry Turnover Day (Aug. 28) and National Cherry Popover Day (Sept. 1). Who knew? I mean, where are the parades, the fireworks, the celebrations?

Okay, seriously, I love cherries and they really are something to celebrate. Did you know that cherries offer a lot of nutrients, and their antioxidants protect our cells from damage?

They also give us an anti-inflammatory benefit which may help reduce the risk of heart disease.

Wow! And here I just thought I loved them because they are so wonderfully delicious.

And here in Utah we should feel very lucky because cherry orchards are plentiful. A large majority of the orchards are in Utah County. 

And that brings me to a special childhood memory: My family and I lived outside of Utah, but both sets of grandparents lived in Utah County so when it was vacation time, we usually made the trek to Utah to visit our relatives.

Whenever we would come for a visit, if it was cherry season, we would pull over to a roadside fruit stand and buy a big bag of cherries. They were so sweet and delicious, and we spent the rest of the trip indulging in cherries and spitting out pits. Aww, what a memory!

You can make so many delicious recipes with cherries but in my personal opinion, cherry turnovers are okay and cherry popovers are so-so but cherry Danishes? Yum, yum!

So, we are going to celebrate these two cherry holidays with a cherry Danish recipe. It is delicious and quick to make! Enjoy!

Cherry Cheesecake Danish

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

• 1/2 package cream cheese (4 oz.), softened
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, divided
• 1 can refrigerated crescent rolls
• 1 can cherry pie filling
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3 to 4 Tablespoons heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a small mixing bowl, mix together the cream cheese, sugar, flour and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside.
3. Open the crescent roll dough and unroll, leaving the rolls in rectangles.
4. On an ungreased cookie sheet, lay the rectangles together, lining them up widthwise.
5. Press the edges together as well as any holes there might be in the dough
6. Carefully spread the cream cheese mixture all the way down the center of the dough about 2 inches wide.
7. Spoon the pie filling over the cream cheese mixture.
8. Cut 1/2-inch diagonal strips up each side of the dough.
9. Fold the ends in and then fold the 1/2-inch strips up over the filling, alternating sides to make a criss-cross pattern.
10. Bake 15 to 20 minutes until filling is set and the Danish is golden in color.
11. Cool the Danish before removing it from the baking sheet.
12. While Danish is cooling, mix together the powdered sugar, remaining vanilla and cream to make the icing.
13. You may need to add a little more cream to get the desired consistency to be able to drizzle the icing over the Danish.
14. Cut into pieces and serve.

Delish Thursday is a KDXU weekly feature written by local St. George culinary expert Laura Squires. Laura doesn't have a restaurant or bakery, but if you've ever tasted her food, you know that she is one of the best food artists in the world! Laura has been a resident of Southern Utah for  more than 30 years.