Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)

Old Danish Christmas Kringle is a special holiday treat that shouldn’t be missed! Loaded with spiced nuts in a flaky pastry and glazed to sweet perfection.

Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)

This was my first time making kringle. The recipe I bookmarked included a headnote explaining how it symbolizes Danish hyggethe comfortable, good life. This intrigued me. Doesn’t everyone want to taste the comfortable, good life? (Yes!) The recipe was spare with instruction and offered no step pictures, so I almost didn’t make it. I didn’t know what kind of end result to expect! After researching many different kringle recipes online, I decided that I could read between the lines well enough. I’m so glad I forged ahead!

Say hello to my new favorite Christmas tradition. It is a glorious pastry that makes a nice breakfast or afternoon pick-me-up. It has several steps but it’s not too hard to make, and I’m including all kinds of instructions and visual cues (a video!) so you can make it at home, too.

One of the things I like most about this recipe is that the dough is made in a food processor, barely kneaded, and then wrapped and whisked away to the refrigerator overnight. It takes very little time to make the dough and then you can just forget about the whole thing and return to your gift wrapping, cookie-making, and other seasonal merry-making.

Needless to say, begin one day ahead.

Nutty Kringle filling.

The filling is simple and made of staples that most bakers keep on hand, like cinnamon, nuts and powdered sugar. Almond paste is an important component, and  I do not usually keep it on hand because I often make it fresh (homemade recipe on page 78 the Sprinkle Bakes book!). However, you can find almond paste at the grocery store in the baking aisle.

Shaping the Kringle.

The most challenging part of this recipe is rolling the dough out to 24×24 inches square. My advice to you is this: as you roll, occasionally lift the dough and scatter flour underneath so it doesn’t stick. Don’t despair if your dough sticks to the work suface and tears, just gently lift the dough, scatter the flour underneath and pinch the tear back together.

After rolling the dough square, you’ll fold it into thirds. Be sure to check out the following video so you can see how to fold the dough onto itself. The folded dough is then rolled to 36-inches in length. As you can see in the above picture (with filling), I trimmed the dough to neaten the pastry edges. A little egg wash on the edges of the overlapped pastry will help hold the filling inside.

Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)

Shape the dough into an oval ring or ‘wreath’. Some kringle recipes called for the pastry to be twisted into a pretzel shape, but as a novice kringle-maker I decided to play it safe. I knew the wreath shape would bake evenly. Plus, to me, wreath = Christmas!

Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)

All of the toppings!

The wreath gets a heavy brushing of egg wash and then covered with coarse sugar. This is an important step! Don’t skip it. You can find the extra-coarse sugar I used here.

Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)
Old Danish Christmas Kringle

A simple milk glaze covers the entire pastry and more chopped nuts are sprinkled on. I couldn’t resist adding the flag of Denmark. If you’d like to do the same, you can find them here.

Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)

I almost forgot to tell you that this recipe is not like other yeast breads, because it will not double in size with proofing. It will inflate ever-so-slightly. This is business as usual for a kringle. The end result is a deeply golden, thin-topped, flaky pastry with a nutty-cinnamon filling that puffs in the oven. 

Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)
Old Danish Christmas Kringle

I am truly excited to share this pastry with you. It’s a keeper! This recipe makes one large kringle, which probably serves about a dozen people, but if I’m serving, about eight.

This recipe is loosely adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas. Tips, hints, clues, and tricks were gathered from more than a dozen websites featuring Christmas Kringle recipes.

Old Danish Christmas Kringle (Dansk Smørkringle)

Heather Baird
Begin this recipe one day ahead. This recipe calls for evaporated milk, which is easily confused with sweetened condensed milk because they are both canned. Evaporated milk is unsweetened. Be sure to get the right milk!
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
8 hours or overnight chill time 8 hours
Total Time 9 hours 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Danish
Servings 10

Ingredients
 
 

Dough:

  • 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  • 1/4 cup warm water, 105°-115°F
  • 1/4 cup evaporated milk, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup butter, cubed and chilled

Mixed nut filling:

  • 1 cup almond paste
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg white
  • Egg Wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Toppings:

  • 1/4 cup coarse sanding sugar
  • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 2-4 tablespoons milk
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions
 

  • 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!).
Keyword christmas bread, danish pastry, sweet dough
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Follow:
Subscribe
Notify of
guest
20 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Unknown
Unknown
6 years ago

What a gorgeous new tradition!

Karen
Karen
6 years ago

Wow!! Can't Wait to try! It looks beautiful and sounds delicious! Thank you for taking all the time to research and put this detailed post together with a video!

Kemimor
Kemimor
6 years ago

Interesting recipe ☺ it is somewhat uncommon to use evaporated milk (or condensed milk for that matter) in a danish recipe, and kringle is not a particularly christmassy cake in Denmark, but more of a sunday afternoon cake or something you serve at a birthday (thus the flags are perfect ☺). I am not critizising, just musing over how recipes change through time ☺ on a completely different note, did you know that Dannebrog (the Danish flag) is the oldest national flag still being used? Also, according to legend, it fell from the sky ?

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
6 years ago
Reply to  Kemimor

Hi Miss Overballe!

Thanks for your notes! I relied heavily on the ingredients from 'The Great Scandinavian Baking Book'. That is an interesting legend – I'll have to read up. Thanks for sharing!

Jerilea Hendrick
Jerilea Hendrick
6 years ago

Just moved to Wisconsin a couple of months ago and I'm finding this is the favorite dessert/treat to eat here. I'm glad you posted this recipe as now I do not have an excuse to not make it.

Kathrine Kristensen
Kathrine Kristensen
6 years ago

This looks amazing! I have to admit, that as a Dane, I always get a little excited when I see non-Danes doing 'our' foods, and kringle? That's not just a personal favourite, but a family favourite, too. In my family, though, we don't add nuts to the filling, simply sprinkle a few thinly-sliced on top with the sugar. I'll be trying this out later, after Christmas, since this is a year 'round thing for us 🙂

One small note, though: It's 'smørkringle' not 'smørekringle'. 'Smør' means butter, while 'smøre' means to lubricate, smear, or (oddly enough) bribe 😉

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
6 years ago

Hi Katherine!

Thanks so much! I recently found out I had Danish heritage, so I still have much to learn. I used what resources and books I had with the information available. How strange that the book I have includes the e in smørkringle! Having written a couple myself, I can say that NO cookbook is beyond a typo. (and oh my gosh, the definition – how funny!)

Thanks for sharing!

Amanda
Amanda
6 years ago

Lovely, looks exactly right! I'm from Denmark and my aunt used to make "Kringle" with apple filling for my cousins birthdays and then shaping it to form their age, some numbers were easier than others 😉

Natalie
Natalie
6 years ago

WOW this kringle dansk look absolutely delicious and just perfect for Christmas! Will definitely be making it for the holiday ♥

Gitte
Gitte
6 years ago

What a beautiful kringle! It looks just like the one my (Danish) grandma used to bake, and she was the best kringle-baker ever 🙂
Wish you a very merry Christmas, and thumbs up for making a great Danish pastry classic to perfection!

Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author
5 years ago

It looks wonderful but as other's here have said, it's more of a birthday or special occasion kringle, not just for Christmas.

Anonymous
Anonymous
5 years ago

Dear Heather, when I was first time in Denmark about 44 Years ago I tried a Danish Cake that blowed my mind away. That was (even in Summer) a Christmas Cake. I was looking for a receipe about the last 25 years that looked similar about what I had in mind when I tried the cake as a child. When I saw your receipe I was pretty sure that is something in the same tradition what I got a birthday gift in Denmark. I tried your receipe today. Please allow me some comments: about the Dough: I'm sure some of… Read more »

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
5 years ago
Reply to  Anonymous

Thank you for your kind comments and review! I'm glad you enjoyed the cake. I weighed the 1/2 cup chopped nuts by scale and came to approximately 2oz. Here in the US, many companies sell chopped nuts with the weights and cups right on the package- see this link for 2 oz. of nuts to the approximate 1/2 cup measure: I have also checked the wet to dry ratios, and I would say they are correct for home bakers like me, who purchase flour in grocery stores inside the US. Flour is milled differently and has varied protein ratios across… Read more »

Unknown
Unknown
4 years ago

Hi, thanks for sharing this great recipe. I made it and noticed there's too much liquids. Would it be possible once again review the recipe? Thank you in advance. Kind regards, Pia

Heather Baird
Heather Baird
4 years ago
Reply to  Unknown

Hi Pia,
Could you elaborate on the trouble you were having with this recipe? I've made it a few times without issue. Thanks!

Nila Christensen
Nila Christensen
3 years ago

This looks difficult to make, but it was easy. Just follow the steps to a successful Kringle.

Anna
Anna
3 years ago

Just made this exactly as directed it turned out great. This recipe is a little more like a bread then a pastry as I grew up with. I wish I could attach a pic of it to show you. Still a very delicious recipe thank you.

Anonymous
Anonymous
3 years ago

Just made this exactly as directed it turned out great. This recipe is a little more like a bread then a pastry as I grew up with. I wish I could attach a pic of it to show you. Still a very delicious recipe thank you.

Keith
Keith
3 months ago

5 stars
I’ve made this once and it was a hit! I’ve been asked to make 3 of them this year. In the intrest of time, can these be frozen after baking or can the dough and filling be frozen separately?