Blueberry Cream Cheese Butter Braid

While selling factory-made butter braids for a fundraiser, my littlest brother wanted my mom to buy one. My mom convinced me to make a homemade one instead, and it turned out beautiful and delicious.

When I first started making butter braids a year or so ago, I baked strawberry cream cheese and  cherry cream cheese. This time, I decided to try blueberry.

In a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar, and 1 TBSP of water. Let them sit until the blueberries do what I call "emitting their juices". In a small dish, mix the cornstarch and 2 TBSP of water. This makes it so the cornstarch will mix with the blueberry filling easier. Stir it and put it on low heat until it thickens. Remove from heat and let cool. 

Whisk the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl. Refrigerate until it's time to use. 

For the recipe, you'll need one recipe amount of Allrecipes Basic Sweet Bread. (link in the recipe below)

Roll it out to be roughly smaller than the baking sheet, and to be as rectangular as you can get it.

Make upward slashes on the rectangle on the outside thirds of the rectangle. Spread the cream cheese and then the blueberry filling on the middle third. Then alternate folding in the strips: left, right, left, right, so that it looks like a braid. Fold in your ends, and pinch them closed. 

 Let rise for 30 minutes, then bake in a 325* oven for 20-25 minutes. It will be darker brown on the outside, but towards the middle of the braid, it will become lighter. If desired, rub butter on it when you take it out of the oven. It makes it shinier and butterier. 

Recipe:

One recipe AllRecipes Basic Sweet Bread

8 oz. cream cheese

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 c. blueberries

1/3 cup sugar

2 TBSP cornstarch

2 TBSP water

Enjoy!