Kringle (say KRING-leh) is a flaky butter pastry wrapped around a sweet filling, bent into a ring and glazed. This recipe makes two oval almond kringles from a sour cream dough that needs no yeast, only a long rest in the fridge.
The oval is the American shape. In Denmark the same pastry is traditionally twisted into a pretzel and filled with almond, and the oval ring came later, with Danish bakers in Racine, Wisconsin. The recipe below is the oval, with the Danish almond filling.
Last updated
Recipe
Danish Kringle
Ingredients
Dough
Almond filling
To brush
Glaze
Method
- Mix the flour and salt. Cut in the cold butter until the pieces are the size of small peas.
- Stir in the sour cream until a sticky dough forms. Press it into a flat disc, wrap it and refrigerate for at least 5 hours, or overnight.
- Optional, for more layers: roll the dough to about 20 x 38 cm (8 x 15 in), fold it in thirds like a letter and turn it 90 degrees. Do this three times, chilling 20 minutes between rounds.
- Beat the almond paste, soft butter, powdered sugar, one egg white, the pinch of salt and the lemon juice until mostly smooth.
- Heat the oven to 190 °C (375 °F); one of four sources uses 180 °C (350 °F). Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Cut the dough in half.
- Roll one half on a floured counter into a strip about 15 x 60 cm (6 x 24 in). Spread half the filling in a line down the middle.
- Fold one long side over the filling. Brush the other edge with egg white, fold it over and pinch the seam shut. Bend the strip into an oval, tuck one end into the other and set it seam side down on a sheet. Repeat with the other half.
- Brush both kringles with the rest of the egg white. Bake for about 25 minutes, until deep golden, turning the sheets halfway.
- While they are hot, set one baking sheet on top of the other kringle and press lightly to push out air pockets. Let both cool completely.
- Whisk the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth. Drizzle over the cooled kringles and let the glaze set before slicing.
What is kringle?
Kringle is a long strip of pastry folded around a filling and shaped into a ring or a pretzel. It is made from the layered butter dough Danes call wienerbrød (VEE-ner-bruhd), the same family of dough as a single Danish pastry. Bake from Scratch calls it an oversize Danish meant to be sliced and shared.
Bake from Scratch describes the Danish original as pretzel-shaped with an almond filling, and dates the American kringle to Danish immigrants who settled in Racine in the 1800s. Racine bakeries still make and sell it as Danish kringle.
Danish kringle and Wisconsin kringle are not the same pastry
They share a name and a filling and differ in almost everything else.
- Shape. The Danish kringle is a pretzel. The Wisconsin kringle is a flat oval, like a race track.
- Dough. A Danish bakery kringle uses yeasted wienerbrød dough with butter folded into it in sheets. Home recipes in America usually use a quicker dough of flour, cold butter and sour cream.
- Filling. Almond is the Danish default. American recipes also use pecan, walnut and cream cheese, apple and other fruit.
The recipe below is the home oval with an almond filling: the American shape, the Danish flavour. The yeasted bakery version is a longer project; for a first Danish bake with a filled, yeasted dough, fastelavnsboller are the gentler start.
Why the dough is flour, butter and sour cream
Three things: 280 g flour, 227 g butter and 2.4 dl sour cream (2 cups, 1 cup and 1 cup). Allrecipes, House of Nash Eats and Recipe Idea Shop all use those three amounts.
The butter is cut in cold and left in pea-sized pieces. In the oven those pieces melt and steam, and the steam lifts the dough into layers. The sour cream is the only liquid in the dough.
The dough is sticky when it is first mixed. That is correct. It firms up in the fridge, and it needs at least a few hours there before it can be rolled: the sources ask for four, five and eight hours, so plan on five, or leave it overnight.
If you want more layers, give the chilled dough three letter folds before shaping, as House of Nash Eats does. It adds two 20-minute rests and some rolling, and it builds more layers. It is optional.
The almond filling
The filling is almond paste beaten with soft butter, powdered sugar and an egg white. It sits close to what Danish bakers call remonce (reh-MONG-seh), the creamed butter and sugar filling that goes into most wienerbrød.
Almond paste is sold in tubes or cans in most baking aisles. Marzipan is sweeter and is not a direct swap; if marzipan is all you can find, cut the powdered sugar from the filling.
The amounts here are House of Nash Eats’ filling, because the three almond fillings found did not agree: 170 g, 1 cup and roughly 10 oz of almond paste for a similar amount of dough.
Kringle, step by step
Cut the cold butter into the flour until pea-sized.- Stir in the sour cream, then wrap and chill.
- Optional: fold the dough in thirds for more layers.
- Shape each filled strip into an oval and brush it.
- Bake, cool, glaze, then slice.
Where the numbers come from
Every quantity on the card is shared by at least two of the published recipes checked, except where it says otherwise here.
- Oven. 190 °C (375 °F) in Allrecipes, House of Nash Eats and Platter Talk. Recipe Idea Shop bakes at 180 °C (350 °F).
- Baking time. Published times run from 20 to 35 minutes. The middle of the four ranges is about 25 minutes, so start checking then.
- Salt. The sources use none, 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp and 1 tsp. The card uses Allrecipes’ 1/4 tsp, since the dough is theirs.
- Filling. House of Nash Eats, as above.
- Glaze. 120 g powdered sugar (1 cup) in every source. Allrecipes uses 2 tbsp of liquid and Sprinkle Bakes 2 to 4. House of Nash Eats and Sprinkle Bakes both add 1/2 tsp vanilla.
Prep and total time are left off the card on purpose. The published totals include chilling times of four to eight hours, and a single number would be wrong for most kitchens.
What goes wrong, and what it looks like
Tough, flat pastry with no layers. The butter melted into the dough before it reached the oven. Keep it cold, cube it, and do not overmix once the sour cream goes in.
Filling leaking from the seam. The seam was not sealed, or it was baked facing up. Brush the edge with egg white, pinch it closed and bake seam side down.
A hollow gap between pastry and filling. This is normal. Two sources deal with it the same way: as soon as the kringles come out, set one hot baking sheet on top of the other kringle and press lightly.
One kringle darker than the other. Turn the sheets and swap them between racks halfway through the bake.
Serving, storing and freezing
Cut kringle across the oval into short slices once the glaze has set. Sprinkle Bakes treats it as a Christmas pastry, and it sits well on a December table beside pebernødder and a bowl of risalamande.
Platter Talk says it stays fresh for about five days, and freezes the baked pastry for up to four months. Recipe Idea Shop freezes its kringles after the icing has set hard.
The unbaked, folded dough keeps for three days in the fridge or three months in the freezer, according to House of Nash Eats. Thaw frozen dough overnight in the fridge.
If you like this dough, try kanelsnegle, the Danish cinnamon snails, next.
Questions people ask
What is the traditional filling for kringle?
Almond. The Danish kringle is traditionally filled with almond, usually almond paste or a creamed butter, sugar and almond filling. Pecan, fruit and cream cheese fillings are American additions.
What is the difference between a Danish and a kringle?
Size and shape. A Danish is a single-serving pastry; a kringle is one large pastry of the same kind of layered butter dough, shaped into a ring or pretzel and sliced to share.
What are the ingredients for homemade kringle?
The dough is flour, salt, cold butter and sour cream. The filling here is almond paste, butter, powdered sugar and egg white, and the glaze is powdered sugar, milk and vanilla.
Can you make kringle with puff pastry?
Yes, as a shortcut. Shop-bought puff pastry skips the mixing and the long chill, but it is a different pastry from the sour cream dough, so expect a different texture.
How long does kringle keep?
About five days, and up to four months frozen, according to Platter Talk. The unbaked folded dough keeps three days in the fridge.
