Oslo Kringle

Oh look! It's that time of the year again already. In a couple of days we'll be packing up the car to head down to Windsor for our family Christmas celebrations. That means I'll probably be back just in time to post one more thing before we head into the New Year. I hope everyone has a good holiday!

I'll leave you with this quick and easy pastry. It's essentially a flattened, unfilled cream puff with a glaze on top, made in imitation of the more complicated puff-pastry (Danish pastry; wienerbrød) kringles popular in Denmark and Norway. It's very tasty in its own right, and would make a great addition to a fancy breakfast or tray of dessert pastries. Gotta admit, we just snarfed it down.

8 to 12 servings
1 hour - 20 minutes prep time

Make the Kringle:
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup soft unbleached flour
4 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 

Put the water, butter, and salt into a heavy-bottomed pot. It should be reasonably large, as the eggs and the beaters of an electric mixer are going in there. Bring to a boil and boil until the butter is melted.

When the butter is melted, add all the flour at once and stir rapidly and continuously with a large wooden spoon, until the mixture comes together in a smooth ball. Remove it from the heat at once and let it cool for 10 minutes.

Break in the eggs and beat them in until smooth, one at a time. Spread the batter out on the prepared baking tray in 2 long lines, about 2" wide. Press them down a bit and smooth them out so that they are about 1" thick, and about 3" wide now. Bake them for 25 to 30 minutes, until puffed, brown and fairly firm. Remove them from the oven and turn the oven off. Prick them all over with a fork and return them quickly to the turned-off oven for another half hour until fairly cool.

Ice the Kringle:
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1 cup icing sugar
2 tablespoons light cream
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract OR rum
1/2 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest

Heat a small skillet over medium heat. Add the almonds and toast them, stirring frequently, until lightly browned. Turn them out onto a plate to cool.

Sift the icing sugar into a small mixing bowl. Add the cream, almond extract, vanilla extract or rum, and the lemon zest and stir to form a smooth glaze.

Drizzle the glaze evenly over the two cooled kringles, and sprinkle the almonds equally over them as well. Cut into thin strips to serve.





Last year at this time I made Clementine, Pomegranate & Red Cabbage Salad.

Posted in: Ontario Food