Being from Wisco, you know about cheese curds and beer, but Kringle is also another staple here in the cheese state! This Chocolate eclair danish Kringle was so fun to make! It is filled with a homemade creamy vanilla custard and topped with a sweet chocolate glaze. Anyone that is an eclair lover, will be a lover of this Kringle.
Other hybrid desserts to make are my brownie donuts with Bailey's glaze and the blueberry orange shortbread cake.
Chocolate eclair danish kringle
For as long as I can remember I have wanted to test the water by making a danish Kringle. It was an long and arduous process and mine wasn't perfect, but it tasted amazing!
The homemade creamy vanilla custard baked inside the flaky Kringle dough and topped with a chocolate glaze made this one amazing breakfast.
The history of Racine Kringle
Racine Kringle is the official pastry of Wisconsin. It is a tradition that was brought over by the Danish immigrants in the mid-19th century.
A Kringle is 32 layers of flaky, buttery dough filled with a variety of fruits and nuts and baked until golden brown. They offer about several varieties such as pecan, almond, raspberry, cherry, apple, strawberry, and cream cheese. Kringles are sold at about every grocery store in Wisconsin and select bakeries across the state. In addition, they can be shipped worldwide.
So Racine is not just known for the Racine Belles baseball team or the Seven Mile Fair flea market! They found a great way to put themselves on the map with the delicious Kringle!
First Step: Mixing the kringle dough together
The process of making a kringle dough is labor time intensive. The recipe I used was adapted from Melissa Clark. I used my own custard filling and chocolate glaze recipe.
With a food processor, combine both flours, sugar, Red Start yeast and salt. Pulse a few times to blend. Add in the chilled butter chunks and pulse about 10 times or until the butter chunks are broken down by half.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and egg. Pour flour mixture into the bowl, and with a spatula to stir together until nearly all the flour is moistened. Use your hand to quickly knead the dough to bring it together. Transfer the dough to a work surface and pat into a rectangle. Wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
Second Step: Rolling out the kringle dough
On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a roughly 8x15 inch rectangle. Fold the two short sides of the rectangle toward the center, folding the rectangle into thirds, like a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, then roll out again into an 8x15 inch rectangle; fold into thirds again. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes.
Roll the dough out again in an 8x15 in rectangle, fold into thirds, wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes two more times. Wrapped dough can be kept in the refrigerator for 3 days or the freezer for 2 months.
Third Step: Making the Vanilla Custard Filling
In a medium saucepan, start by scalding the milk over medium-high heat. That just means heating the milk only until bubbles form around the edges of the saucepan, but not letting it come to a boil.
Whisk your flour, sugar and salt together in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk your egg yolks together. Add the flour mixture to the egg yolks and whisk until you have a thick paste like mixture.
Once the milk is scalded remove from the heat. Slowly begin tempering the egg yolk mixture with the hot milk. To do this, add a very small amount of milk at a time to the egg yolk mixture (spoonful) while continuously whisking as you do it. You want to gradually bring up the temperature of the yolk mixture; if you simply add all the hot milk at once you will end up with scrambled eggs! Continue to add until both mixtures are combined well.
Pour mixture back into saucepan and place over medium high heat. Whisk continually as it heats. Don't be alarmed it will be very frothy and soupy at first, but will slowly thicken up.
Once it has thickened up, stop whisking to see if it has come to a boil. Once it has begun to boil, whisk for only five more seconds and remove from heat. Pour mixture through a strainer to remove any extra lumps and mix in Lorann's Vanilla bean paste. Cover custard with plastic wrap. Make sure to press down on the plastic wrap to make sure that it comes in contact with the surface of the custard (prevents skin from forming). Refrigerate for 2-3 hours.
Once the custard is completely chilled, beat heavy cream until you get stiff peaks. Fold into the custard and refrigerate until you are ready to put on kringle.
Step Four: Assembly and baking
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and cut it in half (makes two 10 inch kringles).
On a lightly floured work surface, roll each half into a 6x24 inch rectangle. Spread about ½ cup custard filling on each strip down the center (2 ½ inches wide).
Fold one long side over the filling, leaving the remaining third of the dough exposed. Use a pastry brush to the open border of the dough with an egg white wash on both the long side and two short ends. Fold the second long end over the first; pinch and press the seam tightly along the length and at both short ends, sinking your fingertips into the pastry to create a tight seal.
Remeasure dough to make sure it's at least 24 inches long (you may need to stretch back out). Form into an oval, then tuck one end into the other. Pinch and press seam together, then transfer oval to prepared pans and flip over so it is seam side down. Repeat same process with remaining dough. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Brush pastries with egg white wash. Then bake for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Rotate sheet pans from front to back and top to bottom half way through.
Once the pastries come out of the oven, take the one sheet pan with the other pastry on it and press down gently to eliminate any air pockets between the pastry and filling. Transfer to wire racks and allow for complete cooling.
Step five : Making the chocolate glaze
Ah Hah! The easiest part! Mix together the confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla bean paste and milk until you get a smooth and silky consistency. Set aside until kringle is done.
After pastries are cooled, spread glaze on top. Serve and Enjoy!
Breakfast recipes
- Raspberries and cream waffle cake
- Bananas foster scones
- Puff pastry cinnamon rolls
- Raspberry and white chocolate muffins
Chocolate eclair danish kringle
Equipment
- Stand mixer with dough hook attachment
- Home Decor
- Measuring cups and spoons
- 2 baking sheets
- Plastic wrap
- Rolling pin
- spatula
- Saucepan
Ingredients
Kringle
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup bread flour
- 3 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoon active dry yeast 1 package
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted cold butter, cubed
- ⅓ cup cold whole milk
- 1 large egg, cold
Vanilla custard filling
- 1¼ cup 2% milk
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cake flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 6 tablespoon heavy cream
Chocolate glaze
- 1½ cup confectioner's sugar
- 4 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4-5 tablespoon 2% milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
Instructions
Kringle
- In a food processor, combine all-purpose flour, bread flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Pulse a few times to blend. Add the butter and pulse about 10 times, or until the butter chunks are broken down by half.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together milk and egg. Scrape the flour mixture into the bowl and use a flexible spatula to stir together until nearly all the flour is moistened. Use your hand to quickly knead the dough to bring it together. Transfer dough to a work surface, pat into a rectangle, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll chilled dough into a roughly 8x15 in rectangle. Fold the two short sides of the rectangle towards the center, folding the rectangle into thirds, like a letter. Rotate dough 90°, then roll out again into an 8x15 in rectangle; fold into thirds again. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.
- Roll dough out into a roughly 8x15 in rectangle, fold into thirds, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes two more times. At this point, wrapped dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to 3 days, or in the freezer for 2 months.
- Line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Unwrap the dough and cut in half.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll each half into a 6x24 inch rectangle. Spread the custard filling on each in an even strip down the center (about 2 in wide).
- Fold one long side over the filling, leaving the remaining third of the dough exposed. Using a pastry brush, brush an egg wash on both the long side and two short ends. Fold the second long side over the first; pinch and press the seam tightly along the length and at both short ends, sinking in your fingertips into the pastry to create a tight seal.
- Remeasure dough to make sure its at least 24 inches long; if necessary, stretch it back out. Form into an oval, then tuck one end into the other. Pinch and press the seam together, then transfer over to a prepared sheet pan and flip over so it's seam side down. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes or until slightly puffy.
- Preheat oven to 375°. Brush pastries with more egg wash and then bake until golden brown about 20 minutes. Be sure to rotate pans half way through from front to back and top to bottom.
- As soon as the pastries come out of the oven, compress each pastry slightly by using the sheet pan with the other pastry on it. Set the sheet pan on top of the pastry and press gently to eliminate the air pocket between the pastry and the filling. Transfer the sheet pans to cooling rackss and allow pastries to cool completely.
Vanilla custard filling
- Begin by scalding the milk in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. This means heating the milk until only bubbles form around the edges of the pan, but not allowing it to come to a boil.
- While the milk heats, whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a small bowl. In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks well; then add the flour mixture to the egg yolks, and whisk until you have a thick, paste-like mixture.
- When the milk is scalded, remove it from the heat and slowly begin tempering the egg yolk mixture with the hot milk. To do this, add a very small amount of the milk at a time to the egg yolk mixture, whisking continually as you add it. The idea is to gradually bring up the temperature of the yolk mixture. If you add the hot milk all at once and too quickly, you will end up with scrambled eggs. Do this until the two mixtures are fully combined.
- Once the yolk mixture and the milk are fully combined, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place the pan over medium heat. Whisk the mixture continually as it heats. It will be very liquidy and frothy at first and will slowly thicken up.
- After a few minutes, when the custard has thickened up a bit, stop whisking to see if the mixture has come to a boil. Once it has come to a boil, whisk for about 5 seconds more and remove from heat.
- Pour the mixture through a strainer into a bowl to remove any lumps and mix in the vanilla. Place plastic wrap over the custard, pressing it down to make sure it is in contact with the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours, until it is well-chilled.
- Once the custard is chilled, take your heavy cream and beat it until you have whipped cream with stiff peaks. Fold into the custard mixture. Refrigerate until ready for use.
Chocolate glaze
- In a large mixing bowl, combine confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla bean paste, and milk. You want the consistency to be silky smooth. Once done, spread on the top of both pastries. Serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Fun Fact of the Day!
The word "lethologica" describes the state of not being able to remember the word you want! Hot Damn, how many times have any of you been in this situation? I swear, this is literally me everyday when I am having a conversation with someone!
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