Easy Cherry-Almond Coffee Cake

By srumbel

The good thing about it is it's super quick and easy to put together, and it looks and tastes like you spent hours. Tart little bursts of cherry preserves in each bite of creamy almond filling will give you a sunny outlook even if the weather won't cooperate.


The original recipe from Pillsbury used apricot preserves, which I'm sure would be equally delicious. I had cherry jam in my refrigerator love cherries with almond so that's what I went with. Why not make both and see which one you like best?
from scrambledhenfruit

Ingredients

• Coffee Cake
• 1 pkg. (3 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (4 oz.) almond paste, crumbled
• 1 can (8 oz.) refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
• 1/3 cup cherry preserves
• Topping
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 1 Tablespoon sliced almonds

Preparation

Step 1

Heat oven to 375F. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment. With a mixer on low speed, beat cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Beat in crumbled almond paste until well mixed.
Unroll dough onto cookie sheet or parchment. Press into a 13x7inch rectangle, pressing perforations to seal.
Spoon the cream cheese mixture lengthwise down the center 1/3 of the rectangle. Evenly spread the preserves on top of the cream cheese mixture.
On each long side of the dough, make cuts 1 inch apart to the edge of the filling. Fold opposite strips of dough over the filling, and cross the strips in the center to resemble a braid. Seal ends.
Bake 18-22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a cooling rack.
Mix powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over cooled braid and sprinkle with almonds.
***You can assemble this up to 2 hours ahead of time. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate. Uncover and bake as directed in the recipe.