A Touch of Sanity...: Cream Cheese Braid & Chocolate Cream Cheese Braid

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Cream Cheese Braid & Chocolate Cream Cheese Braid

My Mom has been making Cheese Braid ever since I was a child. She makes it every year at Christmas, otherwise only with major begging. As she quit wanting to bake this anymore...I starting tossing the recipe around in my head and altering a bit. I have baked it several times, trying to get it just right...this is the version I landed on and definitely think is JUST right...but you can add anything you like to the filling...lemon curd, raspberry preserves, fig, cherries, blueberries or even cinnamon and brown sugar is divine!

The subtleness of the almond in the pastry coupled with the tangy cream cheese is definitely one of my favorites! My Mom adds almond to the drizzle on hers, which is fantasma...but with the chocolate I just stick to good ol' vanilla!

What you need...yield - 2 amazing loaves of goodness

Sponge...

1 tablespoon active yeast

3/4 warm water

1/2 cup all purpose flour (I like King Arthur Organic)

1 tablespoon cane sugar or 3/4 tbsp real maple syrup or raw honey

Mix all ingredients until well combined, cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for 20 minutes. It will be frothy looking and gooey when it's ready!

Sponge

3/4 cup vanilla greek yogurt (I like Simply Chobani Vanilla)

1 stick unsalted butter, room temp

2 large eggs

1/2 cup granulated sugar/ cane sugar or 1/3 cup real maple syrup or 1/3 cup raw honey

5 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp almond extract

1 tsp salt

1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

1/4 cup demerara sugar

Using the paddle attachment, to the bowl of a mixer add butter, yogurt, eggs and sugar and mix well. Add in sponge and almond and continue to mix on medium/low. Mix 4 1/2 cups of flour with salt, begin adding mixture to the yogurt mixture slowly. Once this is all incorporated it will be somewhat crumbly. Change to the dough hook and allow mixer to knead dough for about 3 minutes or until gathered into a smooth ball. Add more flour in little bits if necessary to achieve smoothness. Place dough into a large lightly oiled bowl, cover with a tea towel and allow to rise in warm place for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.

While it rises, go ahead and make filling, set aside.

Filling

16 oz. cream cheese

3/4 cup confectioners sugar or 2 tbsp. real maple syrup

2 tsp vanilla

dash of salt

1 egg (+ 1 additional egg if you replace the confectioners sugar with maple)

Add all ingredients to a mixer and mix at medium until well blended.

Divide dough into 2 even portions. Mold the dough into a small square, place onto parchment and roll out until it is a rectangle, about 12" x 18". Place your hand in the center of the dough and cut diagonal slits in matching numbers on either side of you hand (see pics).

Spoon half the filling mixture into the center and spread out down the center of the pastry. Optional, sprinkle half of chocolate chips down the center on top of cream cheese filling.

Gently fold ends of dough, at top and bottom, towards filling. Then begin on either side and braid down the pastry, pulling from left then right across filling and repeating until all cuts have been braided up (see pics). Gently pat down the sides of the pastry to secure the tightness of the braid. Place pastry onto parchment lined baking sheet or silpat. Spray lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle with demerara sugar. Repeat for second pastry. Cover with tea towel and allow to rise for 45 minutes. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Make drizzle and drizzle tops of pastry. Once cooled, keep wrapped in the fridge! Excellent serve warm or cold!

Drizzle...

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp caramel or maple extract

1tbsp brewed coffe (I use leftover from the am)

1 tablespoons milk

Mix completely and use a spoon to drizzle on cooling pastry, add more of less milk to achieve the consistency you like. I like mine to be thicker, just barely able to drizzle! ;)

What you need...

Sponge - mix all ingredients, cover tightly and set in a warm place for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes it will be frothy.

Add butter, yogurt, sugar and mix...then add sponge, and begin adding flour/salt mixture...

Once incorporated, change to dough hook and allow to knead for 3 minutes of until gathered into a smooth dough ball...

Cover with a tea towel and allow to rise for 1-2 hours or until doubled in size. (At this point I covered the dough tightly and put it in the fridge overnight to finish later and it was fine)