Christmas Fruit Kringle Recipes

OLD DANISH CHRISTMAS KRINGLE (DANSK SMøRKRINGLE)

Steps:

• Make the dough: Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a medium mixing bowl. Let the mixture stand 5 minutes until bubbly. Add the milk, cardamom, 1/4 cup sugar, egg yolks and cream. Stir well and set side.
• In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour and salt. Place the cubed butter on top of the flour and pulse until pea-sized pieces of butter form. Pour the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the yeast mixture to the flour. Mix together just until the ingredients are moistened. Using your hands, briefly knead in any of the flour that didn't incorporate. Cover with plastic wrap and chill the dough overnight.
• Make the filling: Break the almond paste into pieces and place in a mixing bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and knead together with your hands. The mixture will be thick.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and place it on a lightly floured surface. Knead together any loose dough pieces. Dough will be firm at first, so pound it flat with a rolling pin until it loosens a bit and becomes pliable. Roll to 24-inches square, picking up parts of the dough and spreading flour underneath intermittently so that it does not stick to the work surface.
• Fold dough into thirds to make a long narrow strip. Roll the strip to about 36-inches in length, to about 1/4 inch thickness. Optional: Trim the ragged edges of the pastry to neaten the presentation. I removed about 1/2 inch of dough on all edges.
• Place the filling in the center of the dough. The filling will be thick and clumpy, so place it by the handfuls or use two spoons - one spoon to pick up the filling and another to scrape it from the spoon and onto the dough.
• Brush the long edges of the dough with egg wash and fold each edge towards the center, overlapping one edge of the dough slightly over the other (see video) and completely encasing the filling.
• Transfer the dough to the baking sheet, and place it seam-side-down. Gently form the length of dough to a wreath shape that overlaps slightly at the ends. Use egg wash to secure the ends together (see video). Cover the entire pastry with egg wash and immediately sprinkle with coarse sugar. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let proof in a warm place for 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake the pastry for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and fragrant. Let cool slightly on the baking sheet and then transfer to a large serving platter.
• Make the glaze: Place the confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl and add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until a thick glaze forms. (I used 2 tbsp.) Add the vanilla and pinch of salt. Whisk together. Pour over the warm kringle. Immediately scatter chopped pecans and walnuts over the wet glaze.
• Serve immediately or the glaze will set in about 30 minutes (if you can wait that long for a bite!).

MARZIPAN CHRISTMAS KRINGLE (JULESKRINGLE)

Steps:

• In a small bowl, stir together the milk and sugar. Sprinkle the yeast over the top and let stand for 10 minutes to dissolve. Stir in cream.
• In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt and cardamom. Cut in the butter using a pastry blender or pinching with your fingers until it is a course mealy texture. Stir in the yeast mixture until well blended. Pat into a ball, flatten slightly, then wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours.
• To make the filling, mix the almond paste, almonds, sugar, cinnamon and almond extract using an electric mixer until evenly blended. It may be crumbly.
• Roll the chilled dough out into a 2 inch wide and 24 inch long rectangle. Spread the filling to within 2 inches of the sides and roll up into a tube. Cover your work surface with sugar, and roll the tube of dough in the sugar to coat thoroughly. Roll and stretch the dough out to form a long rope about 40 inches long. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and shape into a pretzel shape.
• Brush the top of the pretzel with egg white and sprinkle with almonds. Cover loosely with a towel and let rise for 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Bake the kringle in the preheated oven until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Cut into slices to serve.

KRINGLE

Steps:

• Soften butter with a potato masher or something similar. Spread the butter on waxed paper to an 8 by 16-inch rectangle. Chill.
• Dissolve yeast in the warm water. Add milk, sugar, salt, lemon extract, and egg and mix well. Add flour and mix smooth by hand. A nice dough should be formed Wrap with plastic wrap and chill.
• Roll the dough on well-floured board to an 8 by 12-inch rectangle. Divide the prepared butter layer into 2 equal parts. Place 1 piece of the butter on 2/3 of the dough. Fold the uncovered third of dough over the middle third (on top 1/2 of the butter layer), then fold the remaining third over the top. Chill.
• Roll dough again to an 8 by 12-inch rectangle. Place the remaining piece of chilled butter on 2/3 of the dough. Fold in the same method as the first piece of butter.
• Gently roll dough to an 8 by 16-inch rectangle being careful not to break the layering of butter. Fold like above in thirds. This make 24 layers of butter. Chill.
• Cut the dough into 2 equal pieces. Lightly and patiently roll 1 piece at a time, until piece is about 6 by 20 inches.
• To prepare filling mix ingredient until smooth. Spread center third of dough with butterscotch filling, then add fruit, nuts, raisins or jam. Fold 1 of the long edges to the middle, moisten other edge and fold over top to cover filling. Seal well.
• Put kringle on lightly greased baking sheet and form into oval shape, pressing ends of kringle together to form a continuous oval. Flatten entire oval with hands. Cover kringle for 1 hour at room temperature.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown color. Cool, then ice with mixture of powder sugar and water.
• Please note that the best quality kringle require patience. This process is most successful when spread out over three days. Day 1, roll in first piece of butter. Day 2, roll in second piece of butter and additional fold. Day 3, create your kringle or other fine Danish pastries. A quality Danish pastry should be light, tender, flaky, and full of flavor. With patience and pride this recipe will yield just that.

CHRISTMAS KRINGLE PASTRY RECIPE

Steps:

• Add the raspberries, ⅔ cup of cane sugar, brown sugar, and almond extract to a small pot. Cook on medium-low heat for 12 minutes, stirring frequently, breaking down the raspberries as you go.
• Cool the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
• Chop the butter into ½-inch cubes and add them to a food processor, along with the flour. Pulse until the butter and flour are completely mixed. Then, pour the mixture into a large bowl and add the remaining cane sugar, salt, yeast, milk, and egg, and beat with a hand or stand-up mixer until smooth.
• Cover and put this in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Lay the dough on a large surface and roll it out to 25 inches long and 10 inches wide - use a measuring tape to make sure you have it big enough. Trim the edges with a pizza cutter to make them straight.
• Spoon the raspberry filling into the center of the dough, then fold each side over the dough and seal the seam with your fingers.
• Join the 2 ends to form a circle or oval shape and seal them together by pinching the dough. Carefully flip the circle over so that the seam is on the bottom. Spread any leftover raspberry filling over the top and then sprinkle the almonds across the top. The filling on top will help the almonds stick.
• Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cover the Kringle and let it sit for 45 minutes to let the yeast activate.
• Bake the pastry for 28 minutes or until the top starts to get golden brown. Take it out of the oven and let it cool for 20 minutes.
• Mix the powdered sugar, water, and vanilla together to make the glaze. When the Kringle is cool, drizzle the icing over and then quickly sprinkle the red and green sprinkles so they stick to the icing.
• Serve the Kringle pastry.

CREAM CHEESE KRINGLE

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine filling ingredients until well mixed; set aside.
• Prepare the dough by adding flour, sugar, yeast, salt, butter and shortening to the food processor; pulse until mixture resembles a coarse meal; transfer to another bowl.
• Stir in sour cream so that it forms a dough.
• Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide in half; pat each half into a 7 in x 3 in rectangle.
• Wrap in plastic and refrigerate 30 minutes; place in freezer for 15 minutes.
• Remove dough half from freezer and roll out to a 28 in x 5 in rectangle.
• Cover half the dough (lengthwise) with half the filling, then fold over and pinch edges to seal; shape into an oval by inserting ends into each other and pinching to seal.
• Transfer to a parchment paper lined baking sheet; cover with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 4 to 12 hours.
• Repeat with other half.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; brush each danish with the egg and bake until golden brown, about 40 to 50 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking.
• Cool 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the glaze ingredients and mix well.
• Drizzle glaze over danish and let set for 10 minutes.
• Serve warm or room temperature.
• Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.

DANISH KRINGLE

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt; cut in butter until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Dissolve yeast in warm water; stir into flour mixture with warm milk and egg. Beat until smooth (dough will be very soft). Cover and refrigerate at least 2 hours but not more than 24 hours. , Punch dough down. Divide dough in half; refrigerate one half. On a well-floured surface, roll remaining half into a 15x6-in. rectangle. , Combine filling ingredients. Spread half of the filling down center of rectangle in a 2-in. strip. Fold sides of dough over filling; overlapping 1-1/2-in.; pinch edges to seal. Shape into an oval; pinch ends together. Place seam side down on a greased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Repeat with remaining dough and filling. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 30 minutes. , Preheat oven to 375°. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes. Combine confectioners' sugar, water and vanilla; spread over the kringles. Sprinkle with nuts.

APPLE CINNAMON KRINGLE RECIPE - (4.5/5)

Steps:

• In a small bowl mix together sour cream and vanilla. Set aside. Using a pastry blender or several pulses with a food processor cut together flour and butter so butter is reduced to small pea-sized bits. Stir in sour cream mixture. Blend well to form a dough. Divide into two disks. Flatten disks slightly, cover and chill at least 2 hours or overnight. While the pastry is chilling, prepare the kringle filling. In a small saucepan, brown the butter for the icing in a saucepan over medium heat, swirling the pan every so often. Once the butter has browned add the apples, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla. Cook until apples have softened then quickly whisk in corn starch. Cook until mixture has thickened, about 5 minutes more. Remove from heat and transfer filling into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until completely chilled. Move oven rack to the center position. Preheat oven to 450°F. In a small bowl whisk together egg and sugar. Set aside. On a floured work surface, roll out each dough disk into a 12 by 6 inch rectangle. Spread filling down center in a thin strip leaving two inches clear on each side and an inch and a half at both ends. Fold sides over center then fold ends up, press lightly to seal. Brush with egg wash. Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Drizzle icing over warm kringle. Cool on wire rack. Store in a covered container. Best within a day.

CHRISTMAS FRUITCAKE

Steps:

• Soak cherries, mango, cranberries, currants, and citron in 1/4 cup rum for at least 24 hours. Cover tightly, and store at room temperature.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Butter a 6x3-inch round pan or loaf pan and line it with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg. Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; mix into butter and sugar in three batches, alternating with molasses and milk. Stir in soaked fruit and chopped nuts. Scrape batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then sprinkle with 2 tablespoons rum.
• Cut out one piece parchment paper and one piece cheesecloth, each large enough to wrap around the cake. Moisten cheesecloth with 1 tablespoon rum. Arrange cheesecloth on top of parchment paper, and unmold cake onto it. Sprinkle top and sides of cake with remaining rum. Wrap the cheesecloth closely to the surface of the cake, then wrap with paper. Place in an airtight tin, and age for at least 10 weeks. If storing longer, douse with additional rum for every 10 weeks of storage.