Danish Pastry II

Place butter and sugar in large bowl. Pour heated milk over it. Let stand while you mix yeast with 1/2 cup warm water and 1 Tbsp. Sugar. Stir and let stand 5 minutes. Add egg and yeast to other mixture. Add salt and flour. Beat together with spoon. No kneading. Dough should be soft and sticky (may need to add more flour). Cover with cloth and let raise for 1 1/2 hours.

Meanwhile, make the cream filling. Heat milk beat egg yolk with sugar and salt and add flour. When milk boils, add some milk to the egg mixture and then add it all back into the milk. Heat and stir until thickened, add vanilla.

Also make the almond filling, by mixing all the ingredients together, until smooth.

Using greased hands spread dough onto GREASED cookie sheet (almost to the edges). Spread cream filling down the middle (lengthwise) and then top with dabs of almond filling. On the sides of the filling make slits about one inch apart. Pull these up and braid over the filling, overlapping. Let raise 30 minutes.

Bake at 375F for about 20 minutes, or until lightly brown. Dribble frosting over pastry while still warm. Sprinkle with sliced almonds and maraschino cherries.