Raspberry Cream Cheese Braid Bread with Dole Raspberries

Disclosure: This post was created in partnership with Dole. I have received compensation for this post.

Can you believe Thanksgiving is upon us already?! My parents always told me that as I got older, time would go by faster. They weren’t kidding!

I usually do something a little different on Thanksgiving morning for breakfast. Nothing fancy, usually the canned cinnamon rolls (which my family loves!). This year, I wanted to try to make my favorite breakfast pastry – braid bread! Around here, the schools sometimes have a fundraiser where they sell braid bread. I always buy at least one loaf for Christmas morning. Of course, it’s been a few years since anyone has approached me so….I guess I gotta make my own! Since I’ve never made a pastry before, Thanksgiving seemed like a good time to try it out.

Before I started, I went to my favorite cookbook, Pinterest, and found a recipe that inspired me – Vanilla Glazed Blackberry Cheese Danish Bread by Sprinkle Some Sugar. Her recipe calls for home-made puff pastry, which I didn’t have time to make, so I knew that I was going to have to try to modify it.

What made this recipe easier to deal with is using Dole Frozen Raspberries. Seriously, everyone should have a bag of these in their freezer! I use them all of the time, in everything I can. And there are so many varieties to choose from.

Ingredients

1 loaf of frozen bread dough (I used Rhodes White Bread)
1-2 cups Dole Frozen Raspberries
a big pinch of sugar (I know – so scientific)
4 oz cream cheese
1/2 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp heavy cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp milk (more if you want it thinner)

Allow time to let the bread dough to rise. I used the quick method on the package, which took about 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 350.

Roll out dough into a rectangle and sprinkle with sugar. If you do this in a prepared baking sheet, it will make your life so much better. I promise!

Mix together the cream cheese, vanilla and heavy cream – this is your filling. When it is nice and smooth, spread it on your dough, down the middle. Add the raspberries on top and sprinkle with a bit of sugar.

At an angle, start to cut strips down each side of the dough. Then, overlap the strips on each side (this is the braiding part).

Bake for about 20 minutes or until it is golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Allow to cool completely before glazing.

The glaze: Mix the powdered sugar and milk together until smooth. Then drizzle over your pastry.

Looks pretty delish, right?

I wasn’t going to actually use the glaze but decided that it needed the sweetness.

The kids loved it! Which is important in this household.

There are definitely a few changes I will make for next time….

I want to try a different kind of bread. Either make my own or something like croissant dough. It was good with the white bread dough but it didn’t get flaky like I am used to.
The frozen Dole Raspberries made it SO easy! I am thinking next time I will use the Wildly Nutritious Mixed Berries or the Wild Blueberries.
Brush with butter. Because….butter!

What is super great about this is that you could make it the night before and then eat it in the morning. It’s good either hot or cold.