Recipe - Candy Cane Twist

Pack yeast
1/3 cup Sugar
2/3 cup Warm water (105115)
1 cup Toasted skinned hazelnuts**
3 cup Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
One fourth cup Room temp unsalted butter
Egg
One half cup Dried cherries or raisins
Icing

Dissolve yeast & 1 tsp. sugar in water. Let st& until foamy, 510 minutes.
Place half of hazelnuts in food processor. Whirl until chopped; remove &
reserve. Place remaining nuts in processor along with remaining sugar.
Whirl until finely ground. Add the flour, salt & butter to processor. With
machine running, add egg & the yeast mix. Whirl until mix forms a ball;
whirl 30 seconds more to knead. Transfer dough to a large greased bowl;
turn to coat. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in warm place, away from
drafts, until doubled in bulk, about 1 One half hours. Punch dough down. On
lightly floured surface, knead in remaining nuts & the cherries or raisins.
Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a 24" long rope. Twist the
ropes together. On a greased sheet, form the braided loaf into a c&y cane
shape. Cover with a damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place, away from drafts,
until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Bake for 2530
minutes or until golden brown & hollow sounding when tapped. Cool bread on
wire rack. Prepare icing. Divide icing in half. Tint half with red food
coloring. Drizzle or pipe red & white icings in c&y cane stripes over
bread. Icing: Stir together 1 One half cups confectioners sugar & about 23
Tbls. milk until blended & good icing consistency.

**NOTE: To toast hazelnuts, spread nuts on baking sheet. Bake in preheated
350 oven for 810 minutes or until toasted. Rub nuts in a clean kitchen
towel to remove the skins. Submitted By THESERVS@GATE.NET (THOMAS E. HAUG)
On MON, 13 NOV 1995 101606 0500

From Gemini's MASSIVE MealMaster collection at www.synapse.com/~gemini