Easy & Quick Versatile Classic Cream Cheese Glaze Recipe

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Cooking With Anadi

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If you’ve checked out my pancake recipes you’ve seen plenty of them are topped with a luscious cream cheese glaze. Heck, I’ve even done a chocolate cream cheese glaze! I love this stuff so much! Every time I know I’ll be making it for pancakes, my heart seriously skips a beat or two. It brings me so much joy!

When I make this cream cheese glaze recipe, I really slather it up! I love to layer cream cheese glaze in between my pancakes so I can really taste it in every single bite. Cream cheese glaze is just an integral component to many perfect pancake recipes!

This cream cheese glaze recipe honestly just takes three ingredients and a few minutes to make! You won’t want to make a cream cheese glaze in any other way after you’ve tried this recipe! It tastes absolutely delicious, it holds its shape, and you’ll probably want to have a few licks of it on its own!

Tools Needed

• Mixing bowl
• Whisk

Ingredients for This Cream Cheese Glaze Recipe

We only need three ingredients to make a rich and decadent cream cheese glaze that you can use on top of all of your favorite desserts and pancakes! Be sure to scroll to the bottom of this post so that you get the FULL PRINTABLE RECIPE so that you can see all the measurements, and print it for later when you’re ready to make the recipe!

Here’s what we’ll need:

• Cream cheese: Can’t neglect this one as the name suggests! You can use whole fat, but I’ve always used light cream cheese and I get amazing results. I probably would not recommend the 97% or fully fat free variations, however, as your glaze may get too thin and not taste as good. Let your cream cheese come to room temperature before using, as it will whisk easier with the other ingredients. I prefer to use the cream cheese from the tub.
• Powdered sugar: This is also known as confectioner’s sugar. If you use granulated sugar, it will be nearly impossible to break it down when whisking. If you don’t have powdered sugar, a hack I learned is that you can make your own powdered sugar by simply blending up granulated sugar with cornstarch!
• Milk: This makes the cream cheese glaze runny and smooth. If you want a thicker glaze, use less milk. You can use any milk of your choice.

How to Make the Cream Cheese Glaze

You can make cream cheese glaze using an electric mixer or whisking by hand. I have no preference, but if you’re making a bigger batch, then I would recommend the stand mixer if you have one! I’ll show you what to for both methods.

Whisking by Hand

Simply add all of the ingredients to a large bowl and stir, whisking well to combine.

Nothing more to do here. It is best to refrigerate the glaze if you are looking for a thicker consistency, but even at room temperature, it is thick enough - look at the whisk below!

Using a Stand Mixer

In case you are tripling the recipe or more, I would suggest using a hand or stand mixer if you have one. It will make the process much easier. But it is not a requirement at all.

How to Use Cream Cheese Glaze

The possibilities are endless with this cream cheese glaze! Here are just a few ideas:

• Pancakes: This simple cream cheese glaze is iconic in my Red Velvet Pancakes, Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Roll Pancakes, and Extreme Fun & Fluffy Pancakes.
• Brownies: I’ve got the base cream cheese glaze with a little mocha flavor in my Espresso Brownies!
• Cinnamon rolls: Switch up your simple vanilla frosting with this delicious cream cheese glaze in my Air Fryer Baby Cinnamon Rolls!
• French toast: This would really make them special!
• Crepes
• Oatmeal: Hot or cold!
• Waffles

Variations

This is where it gets fun! This cream cheese glaze is actually a perfect blank canvas to do what you want with it! As I’ve said, it’s so delicious on its own, but I’ve had some fun experimenting with just a couple of modifications to transform the glaze by slightly changing the flavor profile!

• Chocolate cream cheese glaze: All you need to do for this is follow the regular recipe and add 1 Tbsp of cocoa powder. I use it for my Yin and Yang Cookie Pancakes, and for my Chocolate Ice Cream Sandwich Pancakes.
• Cookies and cream protein glaze: Again, follow this recipe, but replace the powdered sugar with a scoop of Cookies and Cream flavored protein powder. If you don’t have that flavor, simply use vanilla protein and crumble in some sandwich cookies in the glaze. If you don’t have vanilla protein powder, then keep in the powdered sugar and use unflavoured protein powder. Note however that you may need more milk because of the extra dried ingredients. I use this glaze in my Cinnamon Pancakes with Cookies and Cream Glaze, and in these M&M Cookies and Cream Overnight Oats! This variation of cream cheese glaze adds the Oreo goodness, but also boosts the nutritional content with a boost of protein!
• French vanilla cream cheese glaze: To make your glaze taste like a French vanilla ice cream, add some Madagascar bourbon vanilla bean paste to your glaze. A little of this magic ingredient goes a long way! I have yet to use it in any published recipe at the time being, but that will be heavenly!
• Extracts: There are plenty of extracts you can add to switch up the flavor - and a little goes a long way! Try vanilla extract, almond extract, pistachio extract, or lemon extract. You can add splash of a teaspoon vanilla or a quarter teaspoon of the other extracts to transform your glaze.
• Maple cream cheese glaze: Add some maple syrup to sweeten the glaze.

Storing Classic Cream Cheese Glaze