My Kingdom for a Kringle

Ever since the announcement a few days ago that the bones found under a parking lot in Leicester really are those of the hunchbacked king Richard III of England, Shakespeare has been much on my mind. Yes, now that Richard is in the news much is being made of the recent efforts to rehabilitate him as a nice guy and champion of the poor. However it’s beyond dispute that Richard had his two nephews (one of whom was twelve, and the future king) imprisoned in the Tower of London and later executed. This after he had been appointed their Lord Protector, following the death of his brother, King Edward IV. Not really the actions of good guy. So if you ask me, Shakespeare had it right.

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Snow Delay

It snowed over an inch last night and that, combined with the 10-degree cold is causing mayhem in Louisville. Given I lived in Minnesota for six years, where children aren’t allowed to wait outside for the bus if the wind chill drops below -20, I’m tempted to make fun. But Kentucky isn’t prepared for snow and ice like Minnesota is, and when you consider how hilly the terrain often is, any amount of ice can make driving treacherous.

So school’s out, also little Joan has a fever. All of which means I won’t be blogging today. However I’ll leave you for the weekend with the world’s oldest kringle joke. If it seems familiar it’s because variations are a told for all sorts of ethnic pastry: cannoli, kolacky, strudel, rugelach, the list goes on. Come to think of it I’ve heard apple pie and chocolate chip cookie versions too. It goes like this.

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Kringle & Kringle

Reader Loulou wants to know if kringle and Kris Kringle of Christmas fame are in any way related. Loulou, it seems not, though lots of kringle is sold around Christmas time, no question. Santa’s pseudonym “Kris Kringle” actually comes from a completely different source than the word “kringle” (see the below post). That name is an evolution of the German word “Kriskind”, a figure from Central European Christmas tradition.

Kriskind is a “Christ child”, an angelic figure who brings presents to the boys and girls that have been good all year. The bad ones have to deal with a sort of anti-Kriskind by the name of Belznikel (a bearded “nasty guy in furs”)

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So what is a “kringle”, exactly?

It’s a shape, at least in Denmark. An upside-down (to us Americans at any rate) pretzel. This symbol, which is usually cast in gold with a crown on top, means “bakery” for the Danes. It’s a guild symbol, one of the few that are still in use in Europe these days.

You find this generic shape applied to any number of sweet and savory baked items in Denmark. There are salty kringles (what we know as pretzels), sugar kringles (cookies or pretzels sprinkled with sugar), kringle breads and of course the large kringle pastry we’re talking about this week.

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Where does kringle come from?

From Denmark. Or Racine, Wisconsin with is pretty much the same thing. Though other northern European nations have baked goods they call “kringles” (we’ll get to some of those later), the kringle pastry as it’s most widely known is a Danish invention. It’s the dough that’s the giveaway: it’s folded, just like the kind we […]

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