Healthy Heavenly Blueberry Cheese Danish

If you like these....

You will love this...

The yummy goodness, but healthy!

sugar-free

gluten-free

grain-free

low carb

Blueberry Braided Cheese Danish with Ginny’s notes

    May 7, 2016                 http://joyfilledeats.com/blueberry-danish/

 

Dough Ingredients:

  8 oz. shredded mozzerella (about 2 cups)

  2 oz. cream cheese, softened

  1 egg

  1 cup *baking mix

          (1/3 each* coconut flour, almond flour, and ground golden flax seed,

            to = 1 cup)  

          *I make this baking mix in a larger quantity, in advance,

            so it’s available whenever I need it.

  1 TBSP sweetener (Truvia, Swerve or Pyure) –

           I used Truvia Baking Blend Sweetener

  1 tsp vanilla

  Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients:

  8 oz. cream cheese, softened

  1 tsp vanilla

  1 egg

  1/4 cup TRUVIA Baking Blend

          OR other healthy sweetener (Swerve, Pyure or mixture of two or all three)

  3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)

         ***OR Boysenberry Jam OR Blackberry Jam –

  ***I made half with ~1/3 cup blueberries and half with Boysenberry Jam

Directions:

1.   Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2.   Put mozzarella in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave one minute.  Stir.  

3.   Microwave 30 seconds.  Stir again.  

4.  At this point all the cheese should be melted.  Microwave 30 more seconds until uniform and gloopy (it should look like cheese fondue at this point).  

5.   Add the rest of the dough ingredients and the cheese to a food processor.

Mix using the dough blade until a uniform color.

If you do not have a food processor you can mix in a medium bowl with a wooden spoon, but you also will need to knead it by hand to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients.  

6.   Once it is a uniform color wet your hands and press it out into aN approximate 9×12 rectangle on a parchment paper** lined baking sheet.

     (I used Non-Stick Aluminum Foil** and it worked perfectly)

 

To make the cream cheese filling ~

a.   Add the cream cheese, vanilla, egg, and sweetener to the food processor (no need to wash) or to the bowl you were using.

b.   Mix until smooth in the food processor or with an electric mixer.

c.    Put the filling down the center of the dough.  If it spreads out too much, just push it back to the middle with a rubber spatula.

d.   Sprinkle the blueberries on top (OR dots of jam)

e.   Cut one inch strips down the edges of the dough as shown in the photo below

f.     Criss cross one over the other, braiding as you go down.

g.   Bake for 35-45 min until the dough is golden and the cheese filling no longer jiggles.

 

optional glaze:

(I know it says "optional", but why?)

1.      Mix:

           1 TBSP of softened butter

           1 TBSP of finely ground sweetener (Swerve Confectioner's sweetener) 

           1/4 tsp vanilla.  

I added one ounce of cream cheese, too.

2.      Put in a piping bag and drizzle over the top of the warm pastry

      (or drizzle from a spoon, or  just spread on top).

       It will melt and make a shiny glaze.

This only makes a small amount of icing. 

 If you would like more you can double or triple it.

If you don’t want the icing to melt, cool the Danish to room temperature before adding the icing.

                                                   

You can get very creative with this recipe.  Substitute other fruit, or healthy jam for the blueberries. 

Or, you can make the dough savory, instead of sweet.  My next experiment will be to try this, by omitting the sweetener and adding garlic powder.  Possibly adding some finely chopped onion and some Italian seasoning would be good too.  I'll definitely share successful savory recipes here, when done.