Swedish Coffee Ring with Apricots and Almonds

BBB is a monthly baking adventure sponsored by a group of twelve women who call themselves the Bread Baking Babes. This month's host is Cookie Baker Lynn. She selected a recipe for a Christmas wreath that looks absolutely beautiful and it has an almond filling that guarantees it will be delicious. Despite a wonderful recipe, Lynn gave the babes and their buddies (that would be me) free reign to vary the dough and filling, but she did ask that the bread be shaped as a wreath. She didn't say a word about the name! Now in my book a wreath and a ring are the same thing, and Christmas had passed, so I altered the name a wee bit. The recipe Lynn choose had a marvelous sweet dough so I decided to use that, but after some thought I chose to use an apricot filling for my version of the coffee bread. It worked out nicely. The filling is less sweet than many, but additional sugar can be added to taste. The dough is wonderfully easy to work with and it withstood even my clumsy attempts at artistry. I didn't embarrass myself but if you want to see some beautiful creations take a look at the wreaths these women produced. I'm also sending this entry to Susan at Wild Yeast who hosts a weekly event called Yeast Spotting.


Swedish Coffee Ring with Apricots and Almonds

Ingredients:
1 pound dried apricots
2 cups water
1 scant tablespoon active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup lukewarm milk
1 cup sugar, divided use + additional sugar to taste
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, divided use
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-1/4 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon orange liqueur
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 toasted almond slivers
Glaze (optional)

Directions:
1) Place apricots and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Cover. Let stand for 2 hours.
2) Dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm water. Place in bowl of an electric stand mixer; add milk, 1/4 cup sugar, butter, 1 egg, cardamom, salt and 2 cups of the flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.
3) Turn dough onto lightly floured surface: knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover and let rise in warm place until double, about 1 to 1-1/2 hours.
4) Bring apricots and water back to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until apricots are soft, about 20 minutes. Transfer apricots and any remaining liquid to the bowl of a food processor. Puree. Add orange liqueur, lemon juice and reserved 3/4 cup sugar. Pulse to combine. Add additional sugar to taste. Set aside.
5) Punch down dough. Roll into rectangle, 15 x 9-inches, on a lightly floured surface. Spread with apricot filling to within 1/4-inch of the edges. Roll tightly, lengthwise. Pinch edge of dough into roll to seal well. Stretch roll to make even. With sealed edge down, shape into ring on lightly greased cookie sheet. Pinch ends together.
6) With scissors or kitchen shears, make cuts 2/3 of way through the ring at 1-inch intervals. Turn each section on it's side (90 degree turn). Cover loosely with plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray. Let rise until double, about 40 to 50 minutes.
7) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Beat reserved egg yolk with 1 teaspoon water. Liberally brush over ring. Sprinkle with almonds. Bake until golden brown, about 25 to 30 minutes.
8) To make optional glaze: Combine 1 cup confectioners' sugar with 1 tablespoon water and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Drizzle over cake.

Adapted from Betty Crocker's International Cookbook