Blueberry Breakfast Braid

I am obsessed with fruit filled pastry.  I blame pie alone for 90% of the pregnancy weight I put on with each of my kids. 

Pastry braids are super easy and beautiful, and are made with store bought puff pastry sheets.  They take only a few minutes to assemble and are impressive looking and delicious tasting.

Last week, I made this homemade cinnamon butter braid.  This week, I decided to experiment with blueberries and cream cheese for the filling.

Glorious.

Oh, the things you could make this for.  Mother’s Day Brunch.  Christmas morning breakfast.  Any holiday, special occasion, or brunch.  Even dessert.

A Rumbly in my Tumbly original

Ingredients:
1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
2 oz of room temperature cream cheese
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 dash of cinnamon
2 tsp blueberry preserves
1/4 cup of fresh or frozen (and thawed) blueberries + a little cinnamon/sugar for marinating.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400° F

In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, powdered sugar, and dash of cinnamon.  Set aside.

“Marinate” your blueberries in a little bit of cinnamon/sugar mixture and set aside.

Spread out your puff pastry sheet on a parchment-paper-lined sheet tray. On the outside sections, cut diagonal strips that are about 1/2 inch wide. Cut small slits on the creases at the top and bottom of the pastry. Spread the cream cheese mixture on the pastry sheet, leaving room on the ends.  Spread the blueberry preserves on top of that.  Add blueberries on top of that.

Fold the top and bottom of the pastry over the filling, and start folding the strips over the filling, alternating between the left and right side. Make sure there are no gaps. Cut the wings off the corners and pinch to seal. Press any seams together to minimize filling leakage.  **Directions with photos below**

Place the sheet tray in the oven, and bake for about 20 minutes until the top is browned.

FOLDING DIRECTIONS:

It’s already folded in thirds, so unfold it, and cut 1/2 inch strips diagonally on the sides. Also cut little slits in the fold creases at the top.

Spread on cream cheese mixture, leaving space at the ends.

And then your blueberry preserves….

And then your blueberries….

Fold the top and bottom over your filling.

With your first full strip, start folding over the middle, alternating between left and right. Fold tightly and be sure there are no gaps. Gaps=places where the awesome filling can escape. Bad news.

When you’re finished folding, it should look like this:

Next you’ll want to trim the wings off and seal (pinch) the edges. Try to press together any pastry pieces, especially at the top and bottom. Then it’s ready for the oven.