Christy's Christmas Trees

---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.04

Title: Christy's Christmas Trees
Categories: Breads, Machine, Holidays
Yield: 1 Loaf

------------------------1 1/2 POUND------------------------

---------------------------DOUGH---------------------------
7/8 c Buttermilk; for Welbilt/DAK
-and Zojirushi, add 2 tb.
-more buttermilk)
1 Egg
3 c All-purpose flour
1 ts Salt
4 tb Butter or margarine
1/4 c Sugar
1 1/2 ts Red Star active dry yeast

---------------------------ICING---------------------------
1 c Powdered sugar
1 tb Milk or eggnog; up to 1.5 Tb
1/2 ts Vanilla
Green food coloring

--------------------------GARNISH--------------------------
Cinnamon red hot candies

1. Place dough ingredients in bread pan, select
Dough setting, and press Start.

2. When the dough has risen long enough, the machine
will beep. Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan,
and turn out dough onto a lightly floured countertop
or cutting board. Gently roll and stretch dough into
an 18-inch rope. Grease a large baking sheet(s).

With a sharp knife, divide the dough into 17 pieces.
Roll each piece into a ball and place it on the
greased baking sheet in the shape of a Christmas tree,
spaced about a half-inch apart; 5 balls for the bottom
roll, 4 balls for the next row, 3 balls for the next
row, 2 balls for the next row, and 1 ball at the top.
Combine the remaining 2 balls into 1 large ball,
gently roll it into a thick rope and shape it into an
"S" to form the tree trunk.

VARIATION: This recipe makes one large Christmas tree
coffee cake. To create 2, 4, or 6 smaller trees,
simply divide the dough into 2, 4, or 6 pieces
initially and then follow the directions for dividing
up the dough and shaping each tree.

3. Cover and let rise in a warm oven for 30 to 45
minutes until doubled. (Hint: To warm oven slightly,
turn oven on Warm setting for 1 minute, then turn it
off, and place covered dough in oven to rise. Remove
from oven to preheat.) Remove baking sheet(s) from
oven. Preheat oven to 375 F.

4. Bake 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. Cool on
a cake rack.

5. When the coffee cake(s) is cooled, in a small
bowl, combine the icing ingredients, adding enough
liquid to make the icing thin enough to spread over
the coffee cake. Spread each roll with icing, then
decorate with cinnamon red hot candies.

Yields 1 Christmas tree coffee cake. Nutritional
information per Christmas tree: Calories 149, Fat 3.4
g, Carbohydrate 26.3 g, Protein 3.2 g, Fiber .7 gm,
Sodium 166 mg, Cholesterol 20.5 mg.

Joyce's Notes: For a cinnamon nut coffee cake, I
added 1 tsp. of cinnamon and about 1/2 cups chopped
pecans. Good!! I also made 2 trees by dividing the
dough in half, then making 12 balls, using 10 for the
tree and 2 for the trunk.

Source: "The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful
Hints" by Linda Rehberg and Lois Conway.