Wisconsin Apple Kringle
A flakey pastry that tastes like your favorite filled donuts.

I first heard of this Wisconsin pastry on my families annual trip to door county for fall fest. It’s a delicious flakey baked pastry stuffed with a filling of your choice and glazed in a royal vanilla icing. This recipe teaches you how to laminate a dough to build the signature flakey layers of this Danish pastry. The effort is very much worth it after you create two giant Kringle’s, so you have one for you and one you give away. You won’t regret making this one if you love baking. The perfect pastry to pair with your morning cup of coffee.

Wisconsin apple Kringle is a staple in the Racine community in Wisconsin where a huge congregation of Danish people settled. This pastry is the official dessert of Wisconsin and rightfully so. It is absolutely delicious and tastes good with ever filling.

A tedious process is all in the dough-making process. You will have to laminate dough with tons of butter and keep it cold. You will create layers and layers of dough by rolling and folding the dough to create a base layer of flakiness. This isn’t like making croissants though. The dough will not rise as much due to the density of the dough. Prepare the dough a day ahead for easiest assembly.

Wisconsin apple Kringle’s are sold seasonally around the holidays all across America nowadays. These pre-baked beauties are still no match for the homemade pastry. Make one and give one for your next holiday or season or just because even! There’s nothing like a freshly baked pastry.

Wisconsin Apple Kringle
Yield(s): Makes 2 Kringles
15m prep time
2h cook time
4h inactive
For pastry:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1/3 cup whole milk, cold
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 - 21 oz. apple pie filling
For glaze:
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons cold water
Preparation
- In a food processor, combine flour, sugar, yeast, cardamom, and salt.
- Add cubed butter to the flour mixture and pulse butter into the flour 10 - 12 times until the butter is pea-sized.
- Add milk and the beaten egg to the food processor and pulse until the dough comes together.
- Dump the mixture onto a cutting board until a rough dough comes together. Form the dough into a rectangle, wrap in plastic wrap, and let it rest overnight.
- Flour the bench, then roll the dough out into an 8x15 inch rectangle, fold the dough in threes like a brochure to create layers. Rotate the dough and repeat the process. Wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Repeat step five three more times and it will be ready.
- Preheat the oven to 375º F and prepare two parchment-lined sheet trays.
- Divide the dough in half and roll each half of the dough to a 6x24 inch rectangle.
- Spread a thin layer of apple filling in the center of each rectangle and roll one side directly over the filling pinching to seal. Brush the exposed side with an egg white and fold over to seal.
- Place stuffed log onto prepared parchment paper and form into an oval ring.
- Brush with egg white and let sit in a warm place for 1 hour, then bake for 25 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Whisk together the glaze until it's slightly runny. Glaze the Kringle immediately let set. Transfer Kringle to a wire rack and let cool completely. Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Dixie Crystals.











