Candy Cane Coffee Cakes

By ccavins

This recipe makes three cakes: one for the brunch table and two for gift-giving.

Ingredients

• 2 cups dairy sour cream
• 2 packages active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt (if using self-rising flour, then omit salt)
• 2 eggs
• 6 About 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups finely chopped dried apricots
• 1 1/2 cups drained finely chopped Maraschino cherries
• Thin Icing (see directions)

Preparation

Step 1

Heat sour cream over low heat just until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sour cream, 1/4 cup butter, the sugar, salt, eggs and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto well-floured board; knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Punch down dough; divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each part into rectangle, 15x6 inches; place on greased baking sheet. With scissors; make 2-inch cuts at 2-inch intervals on long sides of rectangles.

Combine apricots and cherries; spread 1/3 of mixture down center of each rectangle. Crisscross strips over filling. Stretch dough to 22 inches. Curve to form cane.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. While warm, brush with butter and drizzle canes with Thin Icing (see below). If desired, decorate with cherry halves or pieces.

THIN ICING:
Blend 2 cups confectioners' sugar with about 2 tablespoons of water. If icing is too stiff, stir in a few drops of water.