Norwegian Kringle celebrates rich Scandinavian ancestry

GRACIE CULVER ’19
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
I come from a family that embraces our Scandinavian ancestry. We have a Norwegian flag hanging in our house, tons of Norwegian antiques, and, most importantly, follow many Norwegian traditions. That means we’re eating Norwegian plates aplenty once a holiday rolls around.
During the holidays, my mom and grandmother love to bake traditional desserts for the entire family, and I have learned to bake a few on my own (although they will never taste as good).
One of my favorites, and probably one of the simplest dessert recipes I know, is for Norwegian Kringle. The origin of the Kringle is in Scandinavia in the 13th century, and the word itself originates from the word “Kringla,” which means a ring or circle. An interesting fact about this word is that the correct pronunciation is “kring-luh” instead of “kring-el,” which is what most Americans say. The Kringle can be salty, sweet, or filled and decorated with raisins, nuts, seeds, sugar, salt, butter, and more.
This particular recipe makes a rectangular Kringle, but they can be circular or twisted into pretzel-like shapes as well. I personally love how the dough puffs up and gets flaky and the icing adds the perfect amount of sweetness. Once one of these is made, it doesn’t last long. The flavors are mouthwatering and it’s hard to stop yourself from eating the whole thing… But here is a recipe that’s so simple, yet so delicious.
Norwegian Kringle
1 cup of butter
2 cups of flour
1 cup and 2 tbsp of water
1 tsp of almond extract
3 eggs
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Prepare the crust:
Cut 1/2 cup of butter into 1 cup of flour (with a fork) and mix in two tbsp of water. Divide the mixture into two portions and shape it into two long strips of dough. Take each strip and lay it on a cookie sheet (ungreased). You want the pieces to each be about four inches wide and as long as the cookie sheet.
For the topping:
Bring a cup of water and 1/2 cup of butter to a boil in a saucepan, and then remove it from heat and add the almond extract. Quickly beat in the last cup of flour. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat the mixture well after each egg you add in. Take this finished mixture and spread it over the two strips of pastry.
Bake this in the oven for one hour.
For the icing:
1 1/2 cups of powdered sugar
2 tbsp of softened butter
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp of room tem perature milk
Mix these ingredients thoroughly and spread over the cooled Kringle. Enjoy!