Vegan Cheese and Rhubarb Danish
There’s nothing that makes me want to rise and shine more than knowing there is a fresh vegan cheese and rhubarb Danish waiting for me. When rhubarb season comes around, this vegan cheese pastry is the perfect way to enjoy that sour crunchy fruit-like vegetable. Save yourself some work, and start with store-bought puff pastry, and after that it’s a few moments with the blender, a couple minutes over the stove, and you’re ready to assemble these sweet and tart, crispy and flaky, vegan cheese and rhubarb danishes.
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It’s Rhubarb Season!
It’s time to start eating that seasonal bit of sour crunch, rhubarb! In New England, rhubarb comes into season around the end of May, and will still be growing fresh from the plant until some time near the end of July. It’s a hearty perirenal plant, meaning that it comes back year after year without you having to do much if any work to keep it going. If you have a rhubarb plant, or know someone who has a rhubarb plant, you’ll know that when rhubarb season rolls around, you’re looking for as many ways as possible to eat the sharp stalks. My mother has a large rhubarb plant, and despite social distancing, somehow I’ve ended up with a large quantity of rhubarb and have been busy happily munching and crunching my way through it. This won’t be the only rhubarb recipe you see from me before rhubarb season is over!
Why You Should Eat Rhubarb
Rhubarb is a vegetable, but because it’s so sour it’s often sweetened with sugar and eaten like a fruit (just like we did in this rhubarb Danish). Rhubarb is a low-calorie food, full of fiber, and a good bit of Vitamin K and calcium. The real benefits come in with the antioxidants, with overall levels being even higher than superstar superfood kale. But the real reason you should eat rhubarb is the same reason you should eat kale, potatoes, burdock, amaranth, cape gooseberries and more- it’s a plant, it’s delicious, and variety is the best way to have a delicious diet.
Looking for a Sweet Morsel? Try one of these!
- Golden Sweet Steamed Buns with Raisins and Pecans
- Vegan Scones with Raspberry Apple Compote
- Chocolate Beet Muffins (Vegan, Gluten-Free, Oil-Free)
- Molasses, Ginger and Oat Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies
- Golden Milk Turmeric Vegan Cinnamon Rolls
- Black, Bleeding Vegan Halloween Cupcakes
- Salted Dark Chocolate Vegan Blackberry Brownies
Making Your Vegan Cheese and Rhubarb Danish
It didn’t take many episodes of watching “The Great British Baking Show” for me to realize that I had no desire to make my own puff pastry- all that pounding butter and chilling and folding just seems like too much. Fortunately, most supermarkets sell frozen puff pastry, and most of the time it’s vegan. The toughest part of this recipe (the part I always fail at) is remembering to thaw your pastry ahead of time. If you did that right, the rest is a piece of cake. Sorry, a Danish.
To make your cheese element, boil your cashews to soften them (you can also soak them overnight if you prefer), and blend them with the other ingredients. Simple. The rhubarb is cooked down with a little sugar, some cornstarch, cinnamon, and water. I’ve made this recipe with both 2 tablespoons of sugar and 3, and I settled on 2 as the right number but you can do either. With more sugar, the rhubarb looses a lot of its tartness and with the cinnamon starts to taste more like an apple. With the smaller amount, it’s a lot tarter, but the sweetness in the cheese balances it out. Finally, the rhubarb Danishes are made by folding in the corners of the square pieces of pastry dough to make an octagon. Water is brushed on the outside, and sugar sprinkled over it to give that crystalline effect. The toppings are heaped in the middle of each pastry- don’t try and make it too pretty, just stick them in the center. Then it’s into the oven, out again, and time to get eating!
Vegan Cheese and Rhubarb Danish
Ingredients
- 2 sheets vegan puff pastry, thawed
- ¾ cup raw unsalted cashews
- 2 tbsp. coconut oil, melted
- 1 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1 tbsp. maple syrup
- 1 tsp. white miso paste
- Pinch of salt
- 1 ½ cups chopped rhubarb (around 2 stalks)
- 1 tsp. cinnamon
- 2 tbsp. granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
- 2 tsp. cornstarch
Instructions
- 40 minutes before you’re ready to bake, thaw your puff pastry on the counter. Place the cashews in a pot of water, bring to a boil, and boil for 10 minutes to soften. Once the cashews have boiled, preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C) and line two baking sheets with silicone mats.
- Drain the cashews, and place in a blender along with the coconut oil, lemon juice, maple syrup, miso paste, and pinch of salt. Blend until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides as needed. Set aside.
- Make the rhubarb filling by placing the rhubarb, cinnamon, granulated sugar, cornstarch, and ¼ cup water in a medium saucepan. The rhubarb is fairly tart, so if you want a sweeter filling you should add an additional tablespoon of sugar. Mix it all together, and bring to a boil, reducing to a simmer, until the mixture is thick and jam-like. Remove from the heat.
- Take one sheet of puff pastry and divide it into 4 equal squares. Fold the corners of the square in about an inch, using a little water and pressing to stick the corners to the bottom. Brush the triangles from the folded edges with a little water, then sprinkle generously with sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the second sheet of puff pastry. Place a generous tablespoon of the cashew cheese mixture in the center of each pastry, and don’t spread it out. Place a tablespoon of the rhubarb mixture on top of the cashew cheese, again not spreading it.
- Bake in the top rack of the preheated oven for around 20 minutes, checking at about 15 minutes to make sure they’re not burning on the bottom. Remove from the oven once slightly golden, let cool, and enjoy.
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