Kringle

This article is about the pastry. For the Christmas character, see Kris Kringle (disambiguation). For the protein domain, see Kringle domain.

Kringle

Kringle
Origin
Region or state	Scandinavia
Type	Pastry

Kringle /ˈkrɪŋɡəl/ is a Scandinavian pastry, a Nordic variety of pretzel. Pretzels were introduced by Roman Catholic monks in the 13th century in Denmark, and from here it spread and developed further into several kinds of sweet, salty or filled pastries, all in the shape of kringle.

In Danish and Norwegian, the word is kringle, plural kringler; Estonian: kringel, plural kringlid; Swedish: kringla, plural kringlor; Icelandic: kringla plural kringlur, Faroese: kringla plural kringlur; Finnish: rinkeli. The word originates from the Old Norse kringla, meaning ring or circle.

In the Netherlands, a particular type of sweet kringle is well known under the Dutch name krakeling.

The shape of the kringle has given name to a similarly entangled feature found in some proteins, the so-called Kringle domain.

Scandinavia

In Denmark, kringle denotes the pretzel-like knotted shape rather than the pretzel pastry type. Kringler may be made from puff pastry (like Danish pastry) or yeast dough, filled with remonce or marzipan and raisins, sprinkled with coarse sugar, nut flakes or icing.

There are small salty kringler, saltkringler, being the Danish equivalent of pretzels, and kommenskringler which are half-hand-sized breads in the kringle shape, made from unsweetened yeast dough spiced with caraway seeds. Sukkerkringler are similar, sweet pretzels, sprinkled with sugar instead of caraway. Smørkringler are large crusty and sweet pretzels with a spread of butter on the backside. Smørkringler are not as popular as in former times.

Kringler are pastries with a long history in Denmark, and are still popular items in modern Danish bakeries. Nowadays, kringle is usually made with only one crossing and not two, as in the original kringle and pretzel shape.

United States

Kringle from Racine, Wisconsin

In the United States, kringles are hand-rolled from Danish pastry dough (wienerbrød dough) that has been rested overnight before shaping, filling, and baking. Many sheets of the flaky dough are layered, then shaped into an oval. After filling with fruit, nut, or other flavor combinations, the pastry is baked and iced.

The Kringle became the Official State Pastry of Wisconsin on June 30, 2013. Racine, Wisconsin has historically been a center of Danish-American culture and kringle making. Kringles and Danish culture are an important part of Racine's cultural identity. A typical Racine–made kringle is a large flat oval measuring approximately 14 inches by 10 inches and weighs about 1.5 pounds. O & H Danish Bakery, Racine Danish Kringles, Bendtsen's Bakery, and Larsen's Bakery, are all destinations in Racine, Wisconsin specializing in Kringles.

A Wisconsin distillery, Nordic Distillers of Middleton, Wisconsin makes a Kringle Cream liqueur from real Wisconsin cream, rum, sugar and natural kringle flavor.

In other parts of the United States, kringle refers to a slightly sweet, buttermilk cookie shaped like a pretzel or figure eight.

The Ballard area of Seattle, Washington; Redmond, Washington; Solvang, California; central Iowa; Burr Ridge, Illinois; and Watertown, Massachusetts are among other places to find kringles in the U.S. In 2005, Dana College in Blair, Nebraska, held a Kringle Kontest, which was won by Kirsten's Danish Bakery in Burr Ridge, Illinois.

The Kringle as a symbol

File:Ribe - Bäckereizeichen.jpg

In Denmark, the official kringle emblem of the baker's guild is topped with a royal crown. Here from a modern bakery shop in Ribe.

See also: Pretzel § Emblem of the Baker's Guild

Baker's guilds in Europe has used the kringle or pretzel as a symbol for centuries. It is told (but currently unconfirmed by historic documents), that when Vienna was besieged by the Turkish Ottoman armies in 1529, local bakers working in the night, gave the city defence an early warning of the attacking enemy. For this, they were later rewarded by the Pope, with permission to use a crown as part of their kringle guild symbol. For unknown reasons, the guild in Denmark is now the only baker's guild in the world with official authority to display a royal crown as part of their baker's guild trade symbol. In Denmark, the kringle (with a royal crown) is one of only a few ancient guild signs still in use today and a traditional golden kringle sign is often hung outside of bakery shops.

See also

• Danish cuisine
• Norwegian cuisine