Braided Almond Ring Recipes

DELICIOUS ALMOND BRAIDS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°. Place the almond paste, butter and sugar in a food processor; cover and pulse until chopped. Add egg and flour; process until smooth., Place puff pastry sheets onto a greased baking sheet. Spread half of the filling mixture down the center third of 1 pastry sheet. On each side, cut 8 strips about 3-1/2 in. into the center. Starting at 1 end, fold alternating strips at an angle across filling. Pinch ends to seal. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling., Bake until golden brown, 30-35 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely., Combine the confectioners' sugar, milk and almond extract. Drizzle over braids; sprinkle with almonds. Cut into slices to serve.

BRAIDED ALMOND RING

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, yeast, lemon zest and salt. In a saucepan, heat milk, water and butter to 120°-130°. Add to dry ingredients; beat until smooth. Add the egg, egg yolk and 1/2 cup flour; beat for 2 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Cover and let rest for 20-30 minutes. Punch dough down. Divide into three pieces; roll each into a 24x4-in. rectangle. , In a small bowl, beat filling ingredients. Spread over dough to within 1 in. of edges. Roll up, starting with a long side; pinch seams to seal. Place ropes on a floured surface; gently braid. Place in a well-greased 10-in. tube pan. Pinch ends to seal. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. , Beat egg with water; brush over braid. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes. Carefully remove from pan to a wire rack. Combine the first five glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm braid. Top with almonds.

ALMOND DANISH BRAID

Steps:

• Thaw puff pastry dough as directed on package. This should take about 30-40 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with nonstick spray.
• Open puff pastry sheet on a wooden cutting board and lay flat.
• Using a pizza cutter, cut 2" long strips on either side of center, making them about 1" wide. You should have 8 or 9 strips on each side when done.
• Remove the strips on each corner, leaving the center intact to fold over filling.
• Brush melted butter on center of dough.
• Top butter with 1/2 can almond filling and spread evenly.
• Beginning at one end, fold over center flap to cover filling.
• Fold over the top strip at a slight angle. Repeat with opposite side. Proceed with remaining strips until you reach the bottom set of strips.
• Fold over the center flap on the bottom then fold over the last two strips.
• Using a large spatula, move braid to cookie sheet.
• Repeat with remaining puff pastry and filling to make second braid.
• Whisk egg in a small bowl and brush on top of braids.
• Bake in oven for 20 minutes.
• While pastry is baking, mix all ingredients for almond or vanilla icing together. Add more confectioner's sugar if you need to thicken it or more cream if it needs to be thinner. It should be a good consistency to drizzle over braid.
• Remove cookie sheets to wire rack and immediately drizzle icing over braids. Sprinkle on sliced almonds.
• Makes 2 braids.

CARDAMOM WREATH

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in 3 eggs, evaporated milk, yeast mixture, sour cream, orange zest, cardamom, salt and 6 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour., Punch dough down; turn onto a floured surface. Divide into six portions. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. , Shape each portion into a 24-in. rope. Place three ropes on a greased baking sheet and braid. Form into a ring; pinch ends tightly together. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and let rise until almost doubled, about 45 minutes., Beat milk and remaining egg; brush over wreaths. Sprinkle with almonds and sugar. Bake at 375° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool. , Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat cardamom butter ingredients until blended. Serve with bread.

DANISH PASTRY BRAID

Steps:

• Quick Method Danish Pastry:
• Measure 3 1/2 cups flour into a bowl or work bowl of food processor with steel blade in place. Cut the butter into 1/4-inch slices and add to the flour. Process or cut the butter into the flour until the butter is about the size of kidney beans.
• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir in the cream or milk, cardamom, salt, eggs, and sugar.
• Turn the flour-butter mixture into the liquid ingredients, and with a rubber spatula mix carefully just until the dry ingredients are moistened. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours, overnight, or up to 4 days.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board; dust with flour. Pound and flatten to make a 16- to 20-inch rectangle. Fold into thirds, making 3 layers. Turn dough around and roll out again. Fold from the short sides into thirds. This should result in a perfect square. Repeat folding and rolling again if you wish.
• Wrap and chill the dough 30 minutes or as long as overnight.
• To make the Danish Pastry Braid:
• Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease and flour them.
• Divide the chilled dough into 2 parts. Roll each part out to make a rectangle 12 by 6 inches. Place these strips on the prepared baking sheets.
• To make the filling, cream the butter and sugar until light. Blend in the almond extract, almonds, almond paste, and egg white.
• Spread filling down the length of the center of the strips. Cut slanting strips at 3/4-inch intervals along both sides up toward the center using a pastry wheel. Fold strips over the filling in a crisscross manner
• Preheat the oven to 400ºF.
• Let strips rise for 15 to 30 minutes, just until the pastry strips look puffy; they will not double.
• To make a glaze, beat the egg with the milk or water. Brush the pastry lightly with it. Sprinkle the sugar and/or sliced almonds over the top.
• Bake about 15 minutes or until golden.
• Frost, if desired, with almond-water icing. Blend the sugar, water, and almond extract until smooth and thin enough to drizzle over the braids.

BRAIDED ALMOND-CREAM WREATH (KRANZKUCHEN)

Steps:

• To make the dough:
• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt. Then add the milk and egg and stir briefly. Add the butter and knead the dough briefly by hand in the bowl. Scrape it out onto a lightly floured work surface and continue to knead it for several minutes. You may need to add 1 to 2 additional tablespoons of flour, but resist the urge to add more; the dough should be quite soft and rich. You won't be able to knead it as long as other yeast doughs, but try to get it to a point where it's no longer too sticky and can be formed into a ball.
• Place the ball back in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean dishcloth and place in a warm, draft-free place for 1 hour to rise.
• To make the filling:
• Place the raisins in a small bowl and add the rum and lemon juice. Set aside to macerate for 30 minutes.
• To assemble and bake:
• Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine the almond paste, sugar, egg white, 1 tablespoon of milk, butter, and salt; knead together by hand until well combined. Knead in the raisins and their macerating liquid. The mixture should be creamy but will still hold its shape when spread. If necessary, mix in the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk. Set aside.
• When the proofing hour is up, gently tug the dough onto a work surface. Roll out the dough to a 13 by 16-inch/33 by 40cm rectangle. You can pull the edges out to form neat corners.
• Scrape the filling onto the dough and, using a bench scraper, spread the mixture out evenly over the dough, leaving a 1-inch/2.5cm border on one of the long sides. Starting from the other long side, roll up the dough. Using a sharp bench scraper, cut the roll of dough in half lengthwise, leaving about 1 inch/2.5cm at one end still attached. Working quickly, twist the 2 strands around each other all the way down the length of the roll. Then form the wrapped dough strands into a circle. Next, slice through the end that you left attached and tuck the end pieces at both ends underneath each other to make a neat closure.
• Transfer the wreath to the prepared pan (you may need someone to help you do this) and bake for 45 minutes at the second-lowest rack position, rotating halfway through. When finished, the loaf will be golden brown all over and should sound slightly hollow when tapped. It will still be quite soft.
• To make the glaze:
• Just before the end of the baking time, heat the apricot jam over medium-high heat until loose and bubbling. When the wreath emerges from the oven, immediately brush it all over with the hot jam. Place the pan on a rack to cool.
• When the wreath has almost fully cooled, sift the confectioners' sugar into a small bowl and whisk in the water. Whisk until smooth and lump-free. You want a thick but pourable glaze. Add more sugar or a drop more water as needed. Drizzle the glaze back and forth over the entire wreath. Wait 1 hour for the glaze to set and the cake to cool completely and then slice and serve. The cake is best eaten the day it is made, but it can be kept at room temperature, loosely wrapped in plastic wrap, for 2 additional days.