German Almond Pastry

This is a wonderful treat to make for friends and family. I made this on Christmas Eve and enjoyed it Christmas morning. You can get away with making it the night before, but for some reason this tends to go stale quickly. This is a sweet pastry and is super moist the first 2 days. I like warming my portion of pastry in the microwave before enjoying with a glass of milk. I have also learned from mistake to check your almonds first. They can go rancid. When you add heat to rancid almonds they are really really awful!

In stainless steel bowl or in your mixer mix:

2 cups white flour
1 T yeast

In a glass pyrex or liquid measure cup dump in this order and then microwave for about a minute. You want the butter to be almost melted, but not scorching hot:

1 cup milk
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter
1/2 tsp salt

Now add this to the flour and mix until incorporated. Now add and mix until incorporated:

2 eggs

Now add and mix for 2 minutes:

2 cups white flour

Allow the dough to rise for an hour. Punch down. Let rise 10 more minutes.

On a floured counter top roll the dough out into a rectangle measuring about 15 inches by 10 inches. Then spread the filling on.



For the filling dump in a food processor blend:

1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 T butter, room temp
1/3 cup sugar

Now roll up the rectangle into one long 15 inch log.


Turn the log into a circle wreath. Pinch closed.


Using kitchen scissors (or your children's school scissors hehe) make incisions around the outside of the wreath. The cuts should be about 2 inches apart and go through half of the wreath. Don't cut all the way through.
Let the cut wreath rise for an hour. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. When it comes out drizzle with icing and sliced or ground up almonds.

Icing:

1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 T milk