Guaranteed way to get in the holiday spirit: listen to “Jingle Jingle Jingle” and eat a kringle. Week 50: Raspberry Pecan Danish Kringle

 

I loooove the holidays – twinkly lights, family time, ice skating and of course, lots and lots of baked goods! Doesn’t a kringle just sound Christmas-y? It’s a gigantic breakfast pastry that can be shaped into an oval or a pretzel design.

Mine turned out a little chubbier than intended, reminiscent of a doughnut. Normally, they are larger, thinner wreaths of pastry, stuffed with either a nut or fruit filling. But if one type of filling is good, why not use both at the same time? Sweet tartness from berries and rich nuttiness from the pecans. Upon further recipe research, a common filling is marzipan and custard. Definitely adding that to my must-bake list!

The type of dough used in kringles can be interchangeable. The most traditional versions have a laminated dough that is closer to a croissant with it’s crispy, buttery layers. However, if you don’t have the time to laminate dough (and who does?) you can use a simple sweet bread dough instead.

Side note: the Pentatonix Christmas album is awesome baking music!

 

Yeast is so bizarre, let’s be real.

 

In unison now: oooo, aaaaa, so beautiful!

 

This is a lovely enriched dough, since it has not only eggs and sugar, but also milk. The milk creates a softer texture in the loaf when baked. Apparently it interferes with the gluten structures in the dough.

 

 

I had to use my secret freezer stash of butter for this dough because I miscounted how many cubes I had left in the fridge. Cardinal sin of baking, I know, I know. But let this be a lesson on why you should always have a secret freezer stash of butter.

 

You can just see how sticky and soft the dough is! It wasn’t easy to work with but the end result was light and fluffy (worth it.)

 

I go nuts for pecans – they’re just so rich and yummy! I recommend buying the pre-chopped ones though to save yourself a little time.

 

I love how vibrant the raspberries are, both in flavor and color. Let your inspiration go wild with this one! Choose your favorite jam as a base to keep things simple, or maybe mix up a streusel-style nut and sugar combo.

 

Spread it down the middle of the rolled out pastry, but make sure to leave it rather thick. The pastry grows quite a bit in the oven and can bury a thin filling.

 

My handy-dandy pastry scraper was necessary with this soft dough. It just wanted to rip when I used my fingers.

 

There was a little breakage in the dough wrap, letting some filling show. But that’s what glaze is for!

 

The cracks got a liiittle bit bigger after the kringle’s sauna stay. They’re just giving a preview of the awesome filling inside. It’s clearly hard to keep something so yummy a secret.

 

Aw yeahh, glaze time. Next time, I’ll make it a tiny bit thicker so it holds its shape a little better on the warm kringle.

 

Happy munching!

 

 

Recipe mostly from: https://whatscookingamerica.net/Bread/Kringle.htm