Easy Lemon Danish

A friend of mine pointed me in the direction of this recipe a few weeks ago.  This morning I started to make it and, while I was mixing up the filling, decided I really wanted it to be lemony.  So I experimented and it turned out amazingly well!

Easy Lemon Danish
Adapted from The Adventures of Kitchen Girl

2 tubes crescent roll dough
1 8 oz pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
zest of half a lemon
3 T. lemon juice
1 egg

Glaze
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 T. lemon juice
pinch salt

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Unroll one package of crescent roll dough and lay it in the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish.  Pinch the seams together and press out as much as possible.  If the dough doesn't reach all the way from edge to edge, roll up the side that's not up against the pan a bit so the filling doesn't all run out when you pour it in.

For the filling, mix cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, lemon zest, lemon juice, and egg, mixing until smooth.  Pour over dough.  Open remaining tube of dough and lay it over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes or until dough is golden brown.  Remove from oven and let rest 15 minutes.

For the glaze, mix powdered sugar, lemon juice and salt until smooth.  Pour over danish and smooth it out with an offset spatula or knife.  Cut into squares and enjoy!  

Hot Buttered Rum Batter

My hubby and I have been making this for about a dozen years.  We were appalled by the price of our favorite mix, and decided to see if we could recreate it at home.  So we bought a whole bunch of butter and even more sugar (I shudder to think about how many calories we ingested that weekend, but boy was it fun!), and made up our own recipe.

This is the recipe for the full batch, which fit in my old Cuisinart food processor.  I now have a smaller Kitchenaid food processor, and it only holds a half batch.  So be aware you may need to scale back. 

1 pound (4 sticks) butter
3 cups brown sugar
3 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 t. salt
1 T. cinnamon
1 1/2 T. ground nutmeg (or one nut, finely grated, if using fresh)
1 T. vanilla extract
1/4 t. ground cloves

Combine all ingredients in food processor and mix until smooth.  Add 3-4 heaping spoonfuls to a mug, add a jigger of rum, and top it off with boiling water or hot milk (I usually use water if making it with rum and milk if making it virgin). 

Enjoy!