Kringle – Wisconsin

Cathy: Yes, the very own Trader Joe’s Kringle! For those of you that go to Trader Joe’s you know that just around the holidays, the store loads the tables and shelves with Kringles from Racine, Wisconsin – Almond, Pumpkin, Raspberry – and if you’re like me, you stock up on these flaky rounds of heaven, bring them home and eat them until you just can’t do it anymore.

I decided to try my hand at an American Kringle, or what I think were considered danish kringles back in the day. In the US, kringles are hand-rolled from Danish pastry dough that has been rested overnight before shaping, filling, and baking. Many sheets of the flaky dough are layered, then shaped into an oval. After filling with fruit, almond paste or other flavor combinations, the pastry is baked, cooled and iced.

Racine, Wisconsin has historically been a center of Danish-American culture and kringle making. A typical Racine-made kringle is a large flat oval measuring about 14 inches by 10 inches and it became the official state pastry of Wisconsin (that’s a thing!) in 2013.

I took on the baking of a kringle using a New York Times recipe and it/they were delish. It does take a while, with the rolling out and chilling a few times for the dough but it was worth it.

I still think I’ll watch for them at TJ’s around the holidays, just to make sure I’ve had my fill.

Makes 2 10-inch kringles Time: 2 hours, plus at least 5 hours’ chilling

For the Dough

• 1 cup/130 grams all-purpose flour
• 1 cup/130 grams bread flour
• 3 tablespoons/40 grams granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 cup/225 grams cold unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• ⅓ cup/80 milliliters cold whole milk
• 1 large egg, cold

For the Filling

• ¾ cup/170 grams almond paste
• 4 tablespoons/60 grams unsalted butter (1/2 stick), at room temperature
• ¼ cup/30 grams confectioners’ sugar
• ¼ cup egg whites, well-beaten (from about 2 large eggs)
•  Pinch of fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice, plus more as needed

For the Icing

• 1 cup/125 grams confectioners’ sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract or lemon juice
•  Pinch of fine sea salt

1. Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a food processor, combine all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Pulse a few times to blend. Add butter and pulse 10 times, or until butter chunks are broken down by about half.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and egg. Scrape flour mixture into the bowl and use a flexible spatula to stir together until nearly all the flour is moistened. Use your hand to quickly knead the dough to bring it together. Transfer dough to a work surface, pat into a rectangle, and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled dough into a roughly 8-by-15-inch rectangle. Fold the two short sides of the rectangle toward the center, folding the rectangle into thirds, like a letter. Rotate dough 90 degrees, then roll out again into a 8-by-15-inch rectangle; fold into thirds again. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes.
4. Roll the dough out into a roughly 8-by-15-inch rectangle, fold into thirds, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes two more times. At this point, wrapped dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to 3 days, or freezer for 2 months.
5. Prepare the filling: In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine almond paste, butter, confectioners’ sugar, 2 tablespoons of the egg whites and the salt. Beat to combine, then beat in lemon juice, adding more to taste, if you like.
6. Line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and cut in hal
7. On a lightly floured work surface, roll each half into a 6-by-24-inch rectangle. Spread 1/2-cup filling on each in an even strip down the center (about 2 1/2-inches wide).
8. Fold one long side over the filling, leaving the remaining third of the dough exposed. Use a pastry brush to the open border of dough with reserved egg whites on both the long side and two short ends. Fold the second long side over the first; pinch and press the seam tightly along the length and at both short ends, sinking your fingertips into the pastry to create a tight seal.
9. Remeasure dough to make sure it’s at least 24 inches long; if necessary, stretch it back out. Form into an oval, then tuck one end into the other. Pinch and press the seam together, then transfer oval to prepared sheet pans and flip over so it’s seam-side down. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 30 to 45 minutes, or until slightly puffy.
10. When ready to bake, heat oven to 375 degrees. Brush pastry with more egg white, then bake until golden, about 25 minutes, rotating sheet pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through.
11. As soon as the pastries come out of the oven (and the pastries are piping hot!), do something that seems a little crazy: Compress each pastry slightly by using the sheet pan with the other pastry on it, setting the sheet pan on top of the pastry and pressing gently to eliminate the air pocket between the pastry and filling. Transfer the sheet pans to wire racks and allow pastries to cool completely.
12. Prepare the icing: In a small bowl, whisk together confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, fine sea salt and 4 teaspoons water. Spread icing over tops of the kringles. Let icing dry before slicing and serving.

Recipe is from The New York Times