Pecan and Butter Pretzel Coffee Cake

Ingredients

• ½ lb butter room temperature
• 1 lb chilled butter or 4 more sticks chilled butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 whole eggs
• 2 cups of warm milk
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground cardamon
• ½ tsp salt
• 7 cups of flour
• 2 packs dry yeast
• ½ cup warm water
• 1 tsp sugar

Procedures

1. In cup, mix yeast, ½ cup warm water and 1 tsp sugar and let yeast develop.
2. Cream ½ lb butter or 2 sticks butter, sugar, eggs in mixing bowl.
3. Add warm milk and yeast mixture and beat well.
4. Add 6 cups of flour along with the salt, nutmeg and cardamon till you have a soft dough. If it is too sticky, add the last cup of flour.
5. Knead for 5 minutes.
6. Cover and put in a warm place till double in size.
7. Divide dough into 4 sections. One for each pretzel.
8. Take one section of dough and divide it into 3 equal strips.
9. On floured surface stretch each strip of dough lengthwise to about 15 inches. Use fingers to do so.
10. Take one stick or ¼ lb chilled butter and cut stick into 8 or 10 long narrow slivers of cold butter.
11. Lay these slivers of butter on top of each of the three dough strips, about 3 slivers to a strip.
12. Use up all the butter in the stick.
13. Using fingers, enclose the slivers of butter by wrapping the dough over the slivers. The object is to seal the butter in the strips.
14. Now braid the 3 strips with the butter enclosed. Do it gently and keep it loose.
15. Put the braided pretzel into a circle in an ungreased pan.
16. Sprinkle over the top of pretzel at least ¼ of a cup of coarse chopped pecans.
17. Bake at 350°F oven for 30 – 35 minutes or until light brown. Do not let the pecans burn.
18. While pretzel is still warm, drizzle over almond sugar icing.