By Five weeks to June 19th and I have now written the vows five times. The fifth draft is right. I know it is right because I read it out loud to myself in the kitchen on Sunday night and I did not feel like editing it, I just felt like meaning it. That is the metric. I printed it and folded it and put it in the back of my recipe binder where I will not lose it and where it will smell faintly of flour, which seems appropriate.
I made a test run of the wedding dessert table this week: a half batch of the kolaczki, the Russian tea cakes, and the poppy seed cake, and laid them out on the dining table to assess. They look right. They taste right. The kolaczki are the most labor-intensive and the most important and I have them down now. Babcia Rose is doing her own pierogi separately and I am not touching her workflow. I have learned this much.
School is in the home stretch — we can see the end of the year and the students are starting to feel it. The energy has shifted from the early-spring restlessness to a kind of late-spring momentum. I have a student this year, a kid I will call J, who began September reading at two years below grade level and is now at grade level. A full year of work, remote and in-person, small increments and then a leap. That is the arc. That is why I teach.
Ryan is on a busy rotation and I have been cooking batch meals to leave for him on the nights he comes home and I am asleep. I made a big pot of the chicken and rice on Thursday — the version with lemon and herbs, the one that keeps well — and left a note on the container that said "five weeks." He texted me at 1 AM when he got home and saw it: five weeks. Just that. We speak in weeks now. I am counting all of them.
After laying out that entire test run on the dining table — the kolaczki, the tea cakes, the poppy seed cake — I kept thinking about what else belongs in that kind of spread: something layered, a little laborious, and unmistakably celebratory. The Danish Kringle has been on my list for exactly that reason. It fits the same Eastern European pastry spirit I grew up with, and like the kolaczki, it rewards the patience you put into it — which feels like exactly the right kind of recipe for a five-weeks-out weekend.
Flaky Danish Kringle
Prep Time: 40 min | Cook Time: 25 min | Total Time: 3 hrs (includes chilling) | Servings: 12
Ingredients
- For the Dough:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup full-fat sour cream
- For the Filling:
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans or blanched almonds
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- For the Glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
- 2–3 tablespoons whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Make the dough. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter or your fingertips, cut in 1/2 cup of the cold butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the sour cream until a shaggy dough comes together. Do not overwork it — streaks of butter are fine and desirable.
- Layer in the remaining butter. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat into a rough rectangle. Dot the top with thin slices of the remaining 1/2 cup cold butter, fold the dough over itself in thirds like a letter, then roll gently to about 1/2 inch thickness. Repeat this fold-and-roll process twice more to create flaky layers.
- Chill. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight. This resting time is what makes the layers flake properly.
- Prepare the filling. Beat the softened butter and brown sugar together until combined. Stir in the chopped nuts, almond extract, and cinnamon until a thick, spreadable paste forms.
- Shape the kringle. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. On a lightly floured surface, roll the chilled dough into a rectangle roughly 12 x 18 inches. Spread the filling evenly down the center third of the rectangle, leaving a 1-inch border at the top and bottom. Fold one long side over the filling, then fold the other side over to overlap, pressing the seams gently to seal. Carefully transfer to the prepared baking sheet and curve the log into a loose oval shape, pressing the ends together to close the ring.
- Bake. Bake at 375°F for 23–27 minutes, until the pastry is deeply golden and the surface feels set and firm. Let cool on the pan for at least 15 minutes before glazing.
- Glaze and finish. Whisk together the powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla until smooth and pourable. Drizzle generously over the cooled kringle in a back-and-forth motion. Scatter sliced almonds over the top if using. Allow the glaze to set for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 415 | Protein: 4g | Fat: 27g | Carbs: 41g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 115mg