One of my favorite Swedish dishes of all time is Kringle. My grandma Shirley and my best friend’s mom Julie would make it when I was growing up and I have very fond memories of both. I recently began making it on my own and hope to pass it along to my kids!
Swedish Kringle is a delicious almond-flavored treat. It has a buttery crust with a flaky custard on top, smothered with almond frosting. Upon research via my favorite source (wikipedia), I learned that Swedish refer to it as Kringla and to the Norwegians and Danish it is Kringle. It can be made in different shapes, including round, pretzel and strips, and can be stuffed with various ingredients.
My recipe comes from my Grandma. She made recipe books for each of the ladies in my family a few years back and included this tasty treat.
Grandma's Shirley's Kringle recipe
Grandma Shirley’s Swedish Kringle
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1 tbsp water
Dice chilled butter and cut into flour and water like pie crust.
Butter for the crust dough
I use the paddle attachment for my kitchen aid but a regular mixer or food processor could be used. It could also be mixed by hand (added bonus= good workout).
Mixing dough for the crust
When fully incorporated, divide dough in half and pat on cookie sheet in 2 long strips, 3 inches wide.
Divide dough
Dough strips
Flaky layer:
1 cup water
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp. almond extract
Bring water and butter to a boil, then beat butter and water mixture into flour.
Mixing the flakey layer
Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, add almond extract.
Assembling to bake
Spread mixture atop crust dough. Bake at 350 degrees for 55 to 60 minutes.
Fresh out of the oven
While the Kringle is baking the frosting can be made.
Frosting:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp soft butter
1/2 tsp almond extract
Milk, enough to spread
Mix powdered sugar, butter and almond extract, adding enough milk to spread (about 1 tbsp)
The finishers: icing and toasted, shredded almonds
Top with icing and toasted almonds. Slice horizontally into strips and serve with a good strong cup ‘o joe!
Grandma Shirley's Swedish Kringle!
Delicious!
Time: 30 minutes of prep and 55 minutes to bake
Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Est. ~$10
Taste: 9 out of 10
Final verdict: A great bet for brunch!
The woman behind the recipe: Grandma Shirley!
Best grandma around!
Thanks for passing on the delicious recipe Grandma!!! What is your favorite family recipe? What will pass along to your friends and family?
Mmmm. Love your Kringle! Hope you share your lefse stuff on here too for everyone
My mom has made this too and we used to give them to our neighbors around Christmas time! We just call it a Danish pastry though. Glad to know what it really is called.
Hi, Steph! I’m Casey’s mom. And I’m officially tired after the big weekend! It was so much fun. Wish that I had known about your interest in food! We could have really TALKED! You do such an amazing job with the photos and this site is totally professional! You’ve found your second (first) calling I think. As you look through that “cookbook” I did for the groom’s supper there are probably tons of mistakes, so email me! I also modified some of the recipes from the originals, so ask me if there was one you wanted to try! I can let you know what I changed. I took a lot of ideas from a magazine that is no longer in print, and would be happy to share experiences.
I watched you and some of the other girls that day- Jill is lucky to have such a wonderful group of true friends.
Erin and I love to cook (she’s the one that got us into catering back when she was in high school)- and I love to share and talk to others that love it too- we’re only a .net away! Ann PS I lived in DC several summers when I worked for National Geographic and absolutely love that city and area- can let you know about some of the restaurant finds we discovered-
Hello Ann! So good to hear from you, I hope you are doing well! I love that you made a cookbook for the big rehearsal dinner and definitely look forward to making all of your recipes. I’ll be sure to do a post, I’ll probably need some of your feedback to make sure I’m making everything right:) You all did such a wonderful job!!!
Is there a good place to buy a kringle in D.C.?
Excellent question, I haven’t seen any places that serve kringle in DC but I will definitely keep an eye out! If you like Scandinavian food there is a restaurant called Domku that has some good options, including lefse. http://www.domkucafe.com/Welcome.html I’ve been once and thought it was pretty good!
Thanks for sharing this recipe – yum! I have to admit that I swapped butter for crisco cholesterol-free baking sticks (forgive me!) and the crust was too flaky and filling didn’t seem to rise as much as yours in the pictures above. Did this happen b/c of my altering the recipe or is there something else I could have done wrong?
Hello Aneeta! Hmm, not sure where it went wrong. Did you use all purpose flour? I’ve had issues cooking with self rising flour in popovers where it didn’t rise at all (something to do with the steam countering the levener in the flour). Sorry, not really sure! I’ll maybe give it a whirl with the baking stick and see what happens. It seems like they should work just as well butter.
Cheers!
Steph