Pumpkin Eggnog Danish

This Pumpkin Eggnog Danish is a deliciously easy holiday brunch dish packed with a pumpkin eggnog and cream cheese filling made with Hood Pumpkin Eggnog.

Thank you to Hood Eggnog for sponsoring this post. As always, all opinions are 100% my own and I really appreciate you supporting We are not Martha!

Everyone knows how important Thanksgiving dinner is. The menu must be planned down to a T, from the turkey to the stuffing to all of the sides and obviously, dessert. You must determine if you'll stick to the same classic traditional dinner every year or if you'll step outside the box and experiment with new dishes. And then you'll spend the days leading up to Thanksgiving frantically prepping and cooking dinner.

But let me ask you... Do you ever think about Thanksgiving breakfast? I'm willing to bet many people wake up on Thanksgiving morning and skip breakfast all together in anticipation of all the food they'll be eating later in the day.

But as someone who literally thinks about food from the minute I wake up in the morning until the minute I go to sleep at night, I'm urging you to start thinking about Thanksgiving breakfast! This is especially important if you have company staying over, but no matter what, why wouldn't you want to start the most important eating day of the year with a bang?

Of course, you'll want something easy that can be done in advance since I'm sure you'll have a million things you'll need to do for dinner the day of. That's where this pumpkin eggnog danish comes in. Consider it almost like a palate cleanser before the main event. And absolutely totally necessary.

PUMPKIN EGGNOG DANISH RECIPE

The best thing about this breakfast danish is that it's ridiculously delicious. The second best thing is that it's incredibly easy. If you really want to, you can certainly make your own pastry dough, but since you'll likely be busy making pie crust for Thanksgiving, I recommend keeping it simple and using a sheet of puff pastry.

Oh wait, I forgot another BEST thing about this danish. It involves eggnog! Pumpkin Eggnog to be exact. Have you guys tried this yet? I've been drinking Hood Eggnog since I was a kid and love that they have so many fun flavors now. I've always loved eggnog, but my husband is absolutely OBSESSED with it and was seriously upset I didn't buy any when I first saw it in the grocery store in September. Needless to say, our fridge is now fully stocked and will be straight through the holidays.

I obviously wanted to use the pumpkin flavor for this recipe, but Hood also has their Golden Eggnog, along with a Vanilla Eggnog, and a Light Eggnog. I can safely say that I've now had them all and they're all delicious. My favorite totally depends on my mood, though the golden is pretty much always in our fridge during the holiday season. Hood is 100% the only eggnog I buy as I love their blend of extra creamy milk, sugared yolks and spices. Of course, I enjoy just drinking it, but I also love using it in recipes like this danish (if you search eggnog on my blog, I have tons of recipes that utilize it!).

I used the pumpkin eggnog in three different components of this recipe. First I made a pumpkin pastry cream with it (FYI you can make this a day or two in advance and it does need a bit of time to chill right after you make it). And then I whipped my cream cheese with some brown sugar and a bit of the eggnog.

I rolled out my puff pastry into a rectangle, spread the cream cheese down the middle, and topped with the pumpkin pastry cream.

One of the great things about danish is that it doesn't have to be absolutely perfect looking. I like to cut diagonal strips on the left and right sides and braid them together, but if your braiding isn't the most beautiful, don't worry because you're going to brush the danish with an egg wash, bake it, slice it, and gobble it up.

Don't forget the last step! The icing on the danish. The pumpkin eggnog icing. You'll want to let your danish cool a bit and then drizzle this icing all over the top of it  before slicing. You might also want to serve it on the side in case anyone wants to dip.

So, when your guests wake up on Thanksgiving morning or your family comes over to help cook, you can serve them a delicious pumpkin danish along with their coffee. Of course, if you're doing Thanksgiving at someone else's house, this is always a nice treat to bring along.

Then again, you don't need to wait until Thanksgiving to make this pumpkin eggnog danish. Both pumpkin AND eggnog season are so short and fleeting that you should probably treat yourself to it now. Imagine waking up to a slice of danish and a cup of coffee every morning?

You won't have to think twice about what you're thankful for on Thanksgiving! While danish is always a delicious breakfast, it can also be served for dessert. Yes, I think I might choose this danish over pie.

I'm a big danish person (is that a thing? a danish person? I hope so) and enjoy it in all shapes and forms, but there's something about a braided danish sliced into strips that is just so perfect (and addictive).

But if you prefer to make round danishes or danish in any other shape, you certainly can. You could even make my breakfast tarts with a pumpkin eggnog filling! If cream cheese danishes aren't your thing, you can make a double batch of pumpkin pastry cream and just use that.

I have one more helpful hint for you... danish and a cup of coffee is just lovely, but pumpkin eggnog danish and a glass of cold pumpkin eggnog?  There's nothing better. Can we please make the holiday season last forever?

Hood Eggnog is obviously only available for a limited time (and the pumpkin variety is only available until Thanksgiving!), so make sure you find it at a grocery store near you (try all the flavors!) and make it a part of your holiday traditions. And then start dreaming about Thanksgiving morning breakfast. Check out the Hood website to see more information about the four eggnog flavors and get more recipes using Hood Eggnog! You can also follow Hood on Instagram.

Do you incorporate eggnog into your holiday baking?

If you're looking for more ways to enjoy eggnog for breakfast, check out my Eggnog Overnight Oats and my Eggnog French Toast. I also love these Eggnog Scones from Beyond the Coop!

📖 Recipe