2 c. dairy sour cream
2 pkg. active dry yeast
1/2 c. warm (105 to 115 degrees) water
1/4 c. butter, soft
1/3 c. sugar
2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
About 6 c. Gold Medal flour
1 1/2 c. finely chopped dried apricots (1 8-oz. pkg.)
1 1/2 c. drained finely chopped maraschino cherries (1 1/2 10-oz. jars)
Soft butter
Thin icing

Treat sour cream over low heat just until lukewarm. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in sour cream, 1/4 cup butter, sugar, salt, eggs and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Mix in enough remaining flour to make dough easy to handle.

Turn dough onto well-floured board; knead until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover; let rise in warm place until double, about 1 hour.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Punch down dough; divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each part into 15x6 inch rectangle; place on greased baking sheet. With scissors, make 2-inch cuts at 1/2 inch intervals on long sides of rectangles.

Combine apricots and cherries; spread 1/3 of mixture down center of each rectangle. Criss-cross strips over filling. Stretch dough to 22 inches. Curve to form cane. Bake 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

While warm, brush with butter and drizzle canes with icing. If desired, decorate with cherry halves.

THIN ICING: Blend 2 cups confectioners' sugar with about 2 tablespoons water. If icing is too stiff, stir in few drops water.