almond and cheese braids

How To Make almond and cheese braids

• Step 1
  To prepare sweet dough: Mix 1 cup flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in bowl. Heat milk and butter in saucepan over low heat until a thermometer reads 115-120 degrees.
• Step 2
  Beat milk mixture into flour mixture. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and 1 cup flour. Stir in enough additional flour (about 2 cups) to make a soft dough.
• Step 3
  Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead dough about 5 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Add additional flour to prevent sticking if necessary. Shape dough into a ball. Place in a large greased bowl. Turn dough over so that top is also greased. Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until doubled.
• Step 4
  Punch down dough. Knead dough on lightly floured surface 1 minute. Cover with a towel and let rest 10 minutes.
• Step 5
  Grease or spray two large baking sheets. Combine cream cheese, sugar, egg yolks, flour, and almond extract in large bowl. Beat until smooth.
• Step 6
  Cut dough in half. Roll each half into a 12x9 rectangle and transfer to prepared baking sheets.
• Step 7
  Score dough lengthwise into 3 sections. Don't cut completely through dough. Spread half of cream cheese mixture on each center section.
• Step 8
  Cut dough on the outer sections into 1 inch diagonal strips, cutting to within about 1/2 inch of filling.
• Step 9
  Starting at one end, fold strips over filling, alternating from left and right, overlapping strips in center to form a braid. Cover braids with towels and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until doubled.
• Step 10
  Preheat oven to 350. Mix reserved egg whites with 1 Tbl water. Brush braids with egg white mixture. Sprinkle almonds over braids.
• Step 11
  Bake 25-30 minutes or until braids are golden brown. Rotate baking sheets from top to bottom racks halfway through baking. Immediately remove from baking sheets and cool on wire racks.
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