Breakfast / Brunch
Apricot & Almond Kringle
Have you ever wanted to bake pastries like a professional? With this recipe, now’s your chance. Layers of buttery dough encase a sweet apricot-almond filling, drizzled with a simple glaze. Light, sweet, and flaky, this golden beauty is guaranteed to be the focus of your holiday brunch table.
Hailing from Denmark, kringle is made with a laminated dough, cousin to the dough used to make croissants. Known for its layers of butter that are folded and rolled into it, laminated dough takes some time, but don’t write it off too quickly. Good things come to those who wait, so be patient, and enjoy the process.
Ingredients
FOR THE DOUGH, COMBINE:
FOR THE FILLINGS, HEAT:
FOR THE GLAZE, WHISK:
Test Kitchen Tip
Not including rolling and enclosing the butter, you’ll complete six, three-fold turns, (i.e. rolling through reshaping) chilling after every two turns. Watch this video for a demonstration on how to laminate dough.
Instructions
For the dough, combine water, yeast, and 1 Tbsp. sugar in a large bowl; let stand until foamy, 10 minutes. Stir in remaining 3 Tbsp. sugar, milk, egg, vanilla, salt, and all but 2 Tbsp. flour, just until a shaggy dough comes together. Transfer dough to a lightly floured surface; knead until very smooth, about 6 minutes.
Coat a bowl with nonstick spray. Form dough into a ball, transfer to prepared bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and chill until nearly doubled in size, 2 hours.
Meanwhile, combine butter and remaining 2 Tbsp. flour, place between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll into an 8-inch square; chill until firm.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 10×16-inch rectangle. Set butter square on dough slightly off-centered, covering two-thirds of the dough. Fold bottom third of dough (without butter) over butter square, then fold top third over (with butter) toward you, like a letter, Step 1. Rotate dough 90-degrees so rectangle is vertical. Gently tap ends to seal, then reshape edges.
Repeat rolling through reshaping two more times, loosely wrap dough in a kitchen towel, and chill 2 hours.
Repeat above two-turn procedure twice more, chilling after every twoturns. (Chill overnight before filling.)
For the fillings, heat jam, orange juice, zest, and salt in a saucepan over medium-high to a boil and cook 5 minutes; remove from heat.
Stir in apricots and vanilla. Cool apricot filling completely, then cut in 8 Tbsp. butter with a fork until only small flecks remain.
Blend almond paste, granulated and brown sugars, egg white, and almond extract with a hand mixer for the almond filling.
On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into an 8×30-inch rectangle. Spread almond filling, followed by apricot filling, evenly over dough, leaving a 2-inch border on all sides. Fold one long side of dough over filling, then fold remaining long side over top, overlapping by 1 inch, Step 2; pinch to seal.
Flip kringle over, seam side down, onto a piece of parchment. Shape kringle into an oval, moisten inside of one end with water, and fit other end inside, pinching to seal. Slide parchment and kringle onto a baking sheet; cut several air vents in top of dough. Melt remaining 2 Tbsp. butter, then brush over top of kringle; chill 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Bake kringle until puffed and top is deep golden brown, 45–50 minutes; cool on baking sheet at least 30 minutes.
For the glaze, whisk together powdered sugar, milk, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until smooth.
Transfer kringle to a serving platter, drizzle with glaze, and sprinkle with almonds.
Gently fold bottom third of dough over to cover half the butter square, then fold top third over, like a letter.
To enclose the filling inside the pastry, fold long sides of dough so the edges overlap by about an inch.
Nutritional Facts
Nutritional Facts
Per serving
Calories: 448
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 22g 33%
Saturated Fat 12g 60%
Cholesterol 62mg 20%
Sodium 134mg 5%
Carbs 61g 20%
Fiber 2g 8%
Protein 5g
*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.