Chicken Cordon Bleu Crescent Braid

Chicken Cordon Bleu Crescent Braid. This was the quick lunch my sister-in-law prepared and I could not stop myself asking her the recipe. It is made using only 4 ingredients and it is so delicious..

Chicken Cordon Bleu Crescent Braid: Ingredients

1 (8 oz) can refrigerated crescent dough in sheet (or seamless crescent roll dough)
2 cups cooked breast of chicken, in shreds or in fine pieces.
4-6 slices deli ham
4-6 slices Swiss cheese

Step-by-Step Instructions

Warm your oven to 375 deg f (190 deg c). Place a baking sheet on a piece of aluminum foil to make it easy to clean after and lightly spray or oil the foil to prevent sticking of the braid.
Open the can of crescent dough and roll it out, very gently onto the baking sheet that is already prepared. Punch the seams together with your fingers in case it is perforated dough, so that you have one solid rectangle. Place the rectangle in a manner that one of its long sides is facing you.
With a sharp knife or kitchen scissor, make the skin of the dough with lightly drawn lines dividing the dough into three long pieces: the center and the two side pieces. Trace 8-10 tips (approximately 1 inch wide) down each side long leaving the centre portion untouched. These are side strips that will transform into your pieces of braid.
Sprinkle the cooked chicken all along the length of the undivided part of the dough in the middle of the bottom and top, leaving approximately 1 inch at each end to prevent the filling to go out.
Sprinkle the ham slices over the chicken and roll them or cut them so they remain in the center part.
The Swiss cheese slices go on top of the ham covering as much of the filling as possible. It is all right that they are somewhat overlapping; they are going to fuse.
Beginning with one end, fold the ends of the top and bottom of the dough to cover the filling. Then commence to weave: take one piece of dough at the right and fold it diagonally all over the filling, and then take up a piece at the left, cross the piece of right across it and put the piece of left across the cross of right. Keep on swapping right and left strips until the entire length is covered, loosely braided over the chicken, ham and cheese.
Tuck in any loose pieces of dough in such a way that the filling is covered mostly. It does not need to be a perfect braid, those small holes will allow the cheese to bubble and brown.
Place the baking sheet inside the oven and bake it 18-22 minutes or until the crescent dough is puffed-up and a deep golden brown and the cheese is melted and is oozing slightly between the braits.
Take the braid out of the oven and allow it to rest approximately 5 minutes on the baking sheet to allow the cheese to harden a bit and it is easier to slice the cheese. Cut into 4-6 pieces with a sharp knife and serve warm out of the foil lined pan.