The dairy-free cream cheese filling you’ve always wanted and needed for your puff pastry creations. Creamy, tangy, just sweet enough, and perfect for pairing with any fruit in all your vegan danishes!

One thing I don’t like to do is make recipes with prepared vegan cream cheese. Why? Well, for starters it’s kinda hard to find where I live. I mean, my local grocery store carries it but it’s always sold out. Always.

Beyond that, I know not everyone has access to it, or if they do they may be allergic to the contents – so I try to create my own with easy-to-find ingredients that can be just-as-easily swapped out depending on your dietary needs.

So today, after being inspired by someone in a Facebook group I’m in who had cherry turnovers last night (you’re a hero, Dara!), as well as all the leftover puff pastry in my freezer, I set out to make some. And then I thought: OH MY GOSH I NEED CREAM CHEESE FILLING.

But what can I make it out of?!

The Ingredients

Creaminess. I had vanilla soy yogurt in my fridge. Choose whatever yogurt best suits your needs allergy-wise.

Tanginess. I learned from my friend Kat over at 86eats.com that sauerkraut makes vegan cheese taste absolutely legit. Sounds weird, but I swear it’s magic. (If you want to make your own vegan cheese, you NEED to check out her recipes!)

Melty browningness. Is that a word? Probably not. Oh well. But you know what I mean. Dairy cream cheese softens and melts in the oven, and browns ever so slightly around the edges when baked – remaining luscious and smooth and creamy inside. Enter tapioca starch. It does these things.

Sweetness (if you want). I didn’t add any extra sugar to mine, but you totally can if you like it on the sweeter side.

The Process

It’s way easier than you’d think!

Empty your single serving of yogurt into a blender if you’ve got one, or a microwave safe bowl/container if you have an immersion blender and add the sauerkraut.

Blend it well! You don’t want sauerkraut chunks in your sweet cream cheese filling, trust me.

Add tapioca starch a half a teaspoon at a time, mixing in well between additions.

If using a blender, empty contents into a microwave safe bowl.

Microwave on high for two minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. Heat activates the starch and will thicken up the mixture and get it stretchy and gloopy and cheesy like.

Add powdered/icing/confectioner’s sugar to taste.

Allow it to cool before adding to your puff pastry so that it doesn’t ruin the lamination in the dough.

Scoop or spoon your vegan cream cheese filling into each danish before baking

How do I use this glorious vegan cream cheese filling??

Immediately!

I scooped it into the centers of my danishes with a small cookie scoop. It was enough for all eight danishes I got out of my package of puff pastry. (You can also use crescent dough or any other dough your heart so desires!)

Then I topped the vegan cream cheese filling with some cherry cake filling – but you can use fresh fruit or pie filling, or even jelly/jam! Or plain ole cream cheese filling would be great, too. 🙂

Bake as directed by your puff pastry, but mine was 400°F for 20 minutes.

You can brush the pastry with aquafaba and sprinkle with course sugar before baking to give it a golden brown, crispy coating if you’d like. I’ll definitely be doing that next time. 🙂

Give them a try drizzled with my vegan royal icing or even some American meringue buttercream!

Enjoy!

Stay tuned for my full recipe for berry balsamic danishes coming soon!

Video Tutorial:

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