High Altitude Danish Almond Kringle

This high altitude tested, traditional Danish almond kringle is made with soft, buttery yeast dough that’s filled with almond paste and baked until golden, drizzled with vanilla icing and sprinkled with sliced almonds.

You might also love these recipes for almond biscotti, almond paste cookies and burnt almond cake.

What is Kringle?

Danish kringle (known as smørkringle in Denmark) is a traditional Danish pastry. The dough is very rich and buttery with a sweet almond paste filling, and the texture of the baked pastry is somewhere between a soft bread and a coffee cake.

You can shape the dough in different ways, such as a pretzel shape, a simple oblong shape, or the ring or doughnut shape that I demonstrate in today’s post. After baking, it looks beautiful drizzled with vanilla icing and sprinkled with sliced almonds.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Easy to Make. Even if you’ve never worked with yeast dough before, you’ll find this recipe pretty simple to put together. If you don’t have a mixer, you can beat the dough and filling by hand. And assembling the pastry is very straightforward, using the step-by-step photos in the post below.

Perfect for the Holidays. Kringle is often made for special occasions and birthdays, where it’s called a fødselsdagskringle. My parents used to buy one from Strossner’s Bakery almost every Sunday when I was a child, and it was always one of my favorite things to eat. This felt like the perfect pastry to make for the holidays, and I might even make it for Christmas breakfast instead of cinnamon rolls.

High Altitude Tested. I develop all the recipes on my site for Denver’s altitude of 5,280 feet. If you’re at a lower or higher elevation, please see my FAQs for guidance on adjusting recipes for your altitude.

Ingredients

• Milk. Adds moisture to the dough. Use whole milk for richness and flavor.
• Yeast. My preferred yeast for is Red Star Platinum Premium Instant Yeast.
• Sugar. You’ll need granulated sugar for the dough and the filling, as well as powdered sugar for the vanilla icing.
• Eggs. The eggs add moisture and richness.
• Butter. Between the dough and the filling, there’s quite a lot of butter in this recipe. I used unsalted butter, although you could use salted and just omit the added salt in the recipe.
• Bread Flour. Bread flour has a higher percentage of protein than all purpose flour, yielding a chewier texture.
• Spices. You’ll need salt, vanilla extract and ground cardamom, which is commonly used in Scandinavian baked goods and complements the flavor of the almond wonderfully.
• Almond Paste. You need almond paste, not almond pastry filling. This creates a sweet, almond flavored layer inside the dough that’s just irresistible.
• Sliced Almonds.

Instructions

Dough

• Warm the milk until it reaches between 110-115F. In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the warm milk with the yeast and 1 tsp of the granulated sugar. Let sit for about 5 minutes, until bubbly.
• Add the rest of the sugar, along with the eggs, butter, flour, cardamom, salt and vanilla.
• With the paddle attachment, beat the dough on medium speed for 2 minutes, until thick and smooth. If you don’t have a mixer, you can beat the dough by hand with a wooden spoon or a Danish dough whisk until smooth.

• Scrape the dough into a greased bowl (one that’s twice as big as the volume of the dough), cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight (or up to two days). The dough will slowly rise and expand in volume, but will not necessarily double in volume.

Filling

• When you’re ready to assemble the kringle, make the filling.
• Grate the almond paste into a bowl. Add the sugar, butter and egg yolk.
• With a mixer (or by hand, if preferred), beat the filling for several minutes, until smooth.

Assembly

• Line your baking sheet with parchment paper. If making one large kringle, you can use a standard 9×18 inch baking sheet. If making two medium kringles, you’ll need a larger baking sheet that’s 15×20 inches.
• Turn the cold dough out onto a clean, lightly floured surface. Use your hands to shape the dough into a rectangular log, then roll it out into a slab measuring 24 inches long and 6 inches in diameter. For two kringles, cut the dough in half, and roll each half out to 12 inches long and 6 inches in diameter.
• Spread the filling down the center of the slab, leaving a 1 1/2 inch border on each side and at the ends.
• Make the egg wash, by whisking together the egg white and milk.
• Fold one side of the dough over the filling. Brush the other side and the ends with the egg wash, then fold that side of the dough over, so the filling is completely enclosed, and the edges of dough overlap. Press the dough gently to seal it together.
• Turn the slab of dough over, so the seam is underneath and the top is smooth. Shape the dough into a ring or doughnut shape, bringing the two ends together. Tuck one end of the dough into the other, pressing the dough together and using more egg wash to seal them together.

• Gently transfer the kringle to the baking sheet. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rest until puffy, about 60-90 minutes.

Bake

• Preheat the oven to 375 F, and position a rack in the center of the oven.
• Brush the dough all over with more of the egg wash.
• Bake the kringle for about 25-35 minutes (for one large kringle) or 20-25 minutes (two medium kringles) until golden brown, and a digital instant read thermometer inserted into the kringle reads 190F. If the dough cracks in areas or some of the filling leaks out, don’t worry.
• Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes, then add the icing.

Icing

• In a bowl, stir together the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla, until smooth and drizzly.
• Drizzle the icing all over the hot kringle. Before the icing sets, sprinkle it with the sliced almonds.
• Let cool for about 30 minutes, then slice and serve warm, or let cool completely to room temperature.

Be sure to read all of my BAKING FAQs where I discuss ingredients, substitutions and common baking questions, so that you can be successful in your own baking!

Frequently Asked Questions

You Might Also Like

Please check out my Amazon Shop for a curated collection of some of my favorite cake pans from trusted brands, baking tools, ingredients, pretty things and fashion finds. I recommend products that I buy and use every day!

Did you love today’s recipe? Please rate the recipe and let me know in the comments what you thought! Also, be sure to follow Curly Girl Kitchen on Instagram, and tag me when you try one of my recipes so I can see all your delicious creations!