It's Kringle Season!

I can’t remember exactly when it was but I think two years ago I was wondering the isles of trader joe’s when i came across a pastry I had never seen before, kringle. I have a huge sweet tooth and because it was near the holidays I thought that it would be a nice treat to take home! I also saw that this was a Danish pastry and was excited to try a sweet from a different culture.

Fast forward to getting home and trying the kringle with me tea, OH MY GOSH. It was so good! Warmed up in the oven for a short while the pastry was soft, gooey, sweet and flavorful! The flavor I got from trader joe’s was almond so it reminded me a little of marzipan which I love. I was hooked. I went back the next day and a few times that week to clean them out and ended up gifting kringle to family and friends that year!

While kringle is definitely enjoyed year round and is even at trader joe’s year round but because of my first experience I associate it with a fall/winter treat! The kringle that Trader Joe’s sells is from a bakery in Racine, Wisconsin called O&H Danish Bakery. This bakery has been around since 1949 according to their site and they have a ton of unique flavors as well as other Danish pastry offerings.

You may have heard the term hygge before. It is described by them as creating a warm atmosphere and enjoying life. This includes things like finding beauty in small moments and connecting with family over good food and kringle of course! I love this concept and try to live by this as much as I can.

At trader joe’s it seems they bring kringle to their stores in the fall, winter and spring with flavors like pumpkin, almond and raspberry. So if you have a trader joe’s near you, you can head over there to give kringle a try if you haven’t already!

The O & H Danish Bakery website has a TON of flavors, they are a little pricey but totally worth it. My sister and I went in on a bulk pack of kringle that gives you a slight discount, free shipping and you get to choose your flavors. I got harvest, cinnamon roll, pecan and turtle. If you check out my instagram you will see an IG TV video showing the kringle and tasting a little tea with it. I really enjoyed the harvest flavor which is apple themed. Apple is such a lovely fruit and when baked I really enjoy it!

I will keep you updated on the other flavors but I can’t imagine Ill have anything but raving reviews! If pairing with tea I would suggest a stronger tea. The kringle is very sweet so a strong tea could cut that a little. In my video I enjoyed a raw pu’er with it!

Have you had kringle? If so what is your favorite flavor that you’ve tasted?

Tea Infused Kringle Hearts

Hello!

Small Announcement: I’ve missed you all! I have to admit some sad circumstances have stopped my blogging for most of December and all of January. In December, my stepdad passed away suddenly and it affected me more than I could ever have imagined. I wanted to keep going everyday which I did to a certain point but creating recipes and blogging is such an involved process and I wasn’t up for it. I appreciate your patience during my little break and I’m back in time for the holiday of love!

I have mixed feeling about valentine’s day but I always try to be positive about it AND it’s an excuse to bake and cook things with hearts!

Have you ever tried Kringle?? I bought one from trader joe’s around the holidays and OMG SO GOOD! After I bought that one I couldn’t find them again :( I found out that you can order them online but they are a little pricey.

I was sure I could find a recipe on the internet, and I did! I used this recipe for these kringle hearts and will let you know the changes I made and how I added tea!

For those of you know kringle, you’re probably thinking that this isn’t the right shape! Well, you’re correct. I actually created the kringle then used a heart shaped cookie cutter to cut these out. It was messy but worth it for valentines day! The heart shape doesn’t change the taste in anyway :D

You can find the recipe I followed here !

If I am following a recipe and want to infuse tea into it, I will look for either a liquid portion to infuse or butter! In the past I have tried to use tea in place of the warm water for the yeast and for whatever reason they have always failed! This may have nothing to do with tea but to be safe I used the milk in this recipe.

The recipe calls for warm milk and so I heated the milk a bit and put 2 tablespoons of tea in the milk. I let it steep for until fragrant and when the milk was warm and not hot then I strained it and included it in the recipe.

Two notes about this, use more milk for the infusion that the recipe calls for and measure the final amount added to the recipe. You will lose some milk when you heat it and strain it. You can add less or more tea depending on how strong you want the tea flavor!

This recipe will not give you the thin kringle that you’re probably used to but it is still delicious. The filling is very sweet and is most of the flavor for this recipe. The topping which is a simple glaze makes this a great sweet treat!

A note about choosing a tea for this recipe. I would suggest choosing a black tea and if you are choosing a blended black to tea remember that the flavor you choose will be subtle in the bread part of this so make sure it is a blend you like!

For example, the tea I used in the blend was Amaretto Spice from The Jasmine Pearl Tea. This tea is a blend of black tea, cinnamon and amaretto flavoring. This combo was ideal because you have the extra cinnamon and almond flavor from the amaretto but nothing too overwhelming!

These turned out really delicious and although they aren’t exactly like the original Kringle they have that lovely flavor!

You can definitely create the shapes listed in the recipe but I will say that although the cookie cutter shape was a bit difficult to cut out since I did it after it was baked, it was nice to just give out heart shaped pieces!

I didn’t decide to do the hearts until after it was baked but I think you could probably cut them out before baking and have it turn out well too!