O & H Danish Bakery

What is a kringle?  If you are from Wisconsin, you likely know the answer, as, well, it is your state pastry after all (side bar: What? States have official pastries? I had no idea!).  

It is a Scandinavian pastry in origin, a danish in fact, except a huge one, oval ring shaped, usually filled with some kind of filling, frequently iced.  Racline, WI is the largest center of production, and standard kringles there are 14 inches by 10 inches ... and weigh about 1.5 pounds, to give you a sense of what I mean.  Not individual sized pastries as most of us think of when we hear the word "danish".

I've had a few different kringles over the years, as my aunt used to send a Christmas gift to my parents of one of those mail order companies (Wolferman's), usually with some kringles, cinnamon rolls, and english muffins inside.  I liked some of them, as, well, I do love many desserts, (or really, desserts masquerading as breakfast pastries), but I never sought out kringles on my own.

That is, I never sought out kringles until I became a Trader Joe's fanboy (gal?).  Trader Joes always carries one kind of kringle, the flavor changes ever other month or so, and they come from one of the most famous kringle bakeries in the aforementioned Racline epicenter: O & H Danish bakery.  This is one item that Trader Joe's doesn't remove the branding from, they proudly let you know where these come from.  You can also order directly from O&H nationwide of course, but they cost significantly more (literally, $22.49 + shipping from O&H directly, $54.95 for a 2-pack from Goldbelly, and ... $7.99 at Trader Joes.  Same exact product).  If you look at any Trader Joe's fan's Instagrams/chats/blogs/etc, you'll see a slew of posts about the beloved kringle (which, of course, everyone has their favorite flavor).  But one thing is consistent: everyone loves kringle from O&H.

I obviously had to try them.

O&H does make a number of other products besides just the kringle, and does have retail bakery locations in WI, but my experience is of kringle only, third party only.  O&H makes 18 varieties of kringle (only 5 of which Trader Joe's carries).  For nutty options, there is almond (super highly rated, TJ carries this one usually in November/Dec), almond macaron, and pecan (Jan/Feb/March for TJ), and then apple, wild blueberry, cherry, cherry cheese, raspberry (April/May at TJ), "Wisconsin" (cherry-cranberry-cream cheese) for fruity, and birthday, cinnamon roll, cream cheesecake (TJ, June/July), and turtle (caramel-chocolate-pecan) for super sweet, and harvest (apple-toffee-cinnamon) and pumpkin caramel for seasonal (Sept/Oct TJ).  Oh, and seasonal "Viking Toast", a September offering, with maple cinnamon cream cheese filling sorta like french toast, and bourbon vanilla icing and cinnamon sugar, honoring the Vikings exploring Paris (yeah, I have no idea ...).   So. Many. Choices.

Kringle Packaging.

Kringles come in wax bags, with the giant pastry rings inside, not actually sealed tight.  They have only a few day shelf life at ambient, but ship frozen, and the packaging tells you right on it that they (re)freeze well (I can confirm, they do, indeed).

The instructions on how to serve made me giggle a bit:

"Kringle is best served at room temperature or warmed in the oven. Remove the Kringle from the wax bag, remove plastic sheet and remove from plastic tray. If a warm Kringle is desired, place in a 350 degree oven for 3 1/2 minutes. Kringle can also be warmed in a microwave. When ready to serve, cut Kringle into 1 or 2 inch slices. Then watch for approving looks and gestures. For storage, Kringle freezes well. To thaw, let stand for 6 hours in room temperature or 12 hours in a refrigerator."

I don't disagree with anything they say.  And quite appreciate that they encourage freezing. 

I did not think any of the kringle flavors I tried shone at room temperature, and definitely encourage warming up as they suggest.

Cheesecake / Cream Cheesecake Kringle.

"Our rich, silky smooth Cream Cheesecake Kringle becomes more and more popular every year. It probably has to do with the fact that this uses only the best 100% Wisconsin Cream Cheese as the main ingredient. Pour some coffee, pull up a chair, and enjoy this classic Wisconsin treat."

The first kringle I tried was the cheesecake kringle.  Or, "Cream Cheesecake", depending which label you read.

Here you can see how they arrive inside the wax bag, with plastic protecting the icing/glaze, on a cardboard to keep it stable.

I eagerly sliced off my first chunk, not being willing to wait to heat it it up, at least, initially.

It was ... underwhelming.  The pastry was kinda soft, the exterior not crisp, no flaky nature to it, not buttery ... um ... it seemed like a very generic low end coffee shop danish.  I gulped.   Why did people go nuts for these?  The icing was nice at least?

I glanced the the ingredient label, and gulped again.  This is not a wholesome product.  Yes, cream cheese of course since it was cheesecake flavor, but then all the sugars - granulated sugar, confectioner's sugar, fondant (just sugar and corn syrup), and sugared egg yolks, and then the butters, both butter margarine blend and margarine, and a whole lot of gums and preservatives.

I put my slice into the now preheated toaster oven, and let it warm for a few minutes as advised.  It was *dramatically* better warm.  The pastry got the flaky exterior I was hoping for, it seemed more layered, and although it didn't get buttery instantly, it definitely had a different kind of richness about it.

Cheesecake Kringle (cross section).

And inside, the cheesecake filling.  A fairly thin layer, but with the pastry and the icing, it was plenty.  A small slice of this was considerably richer than you'd expect.

At room temperature, the filling was thick, and dense, and not particularly cream cheese forward, and not really that pleasing.  No complexity.  Not bad, but definitely not great.  

Like the pastry itself though, it was dramatically better warm.  The filling was softer, smoother, and actually enjoyable, although it never really screamed out "cheesecake" to me, just, creamy deliciousness.

I enjoyed my first hunk warm as is, but I also enjoyed it warmed up and paired with ice cream (now *that* really transformed the eating experience of it), but, the ice cream actually wasn't necessary - this pastry is rich enough, the filling generous enough, the icing sweet enough ... it really is "complete" as is, and even I didn't find the need to jazz it up.  It does pair nicely with sliced strawberries or raspberries if you really want to balance the sweet a bit.

I quickly packaged up and froze about 2/3 of the kringle, in individual slices, knowing that I alone could not take down the whole thing in just a few days.  Or, um, I shouldn't at least.  Those frozen slices brought me great joy throughout the winter - so easy to just pop in my countertop oven and have an excellent pastry, whenever I wanted, and also, kinda good frozen.

***+, and I'd get this again.

Seasonal Pumpkin Caramel Kringle.

"Our Pumpkin Caramel Kringle is a favorite seasonal flavor. This delicious blend of pumpkin, spices, and caramel, with pecans on top make this Kringle unforgettable. Fall's bounty is truly delicious!"

I picked the seasonal pumpkin kringle up the first week the fall products hit Trader Joe's in full force, and was rather thrilled to snag, literally, the second to last one.  People adore this thing, and I was so eager to try it, as I adore pastries, sweet glaze on donuts, and pumpkin pie.  This would be a combo of all that, right?

I failed to realize however that even though the package says "Pumpkin" and everyone refers to it as "The Pumpkin Kringle", it is ... Pumpkin Caramel.  There is a very real difference here, not that I'm against caramel, I generally like it, but, at least in this case, it is where things went astray.

But let's get back to the basics.

It did look kinda amazing actually, with a brown colored glaze (unlike others with white glaze), which made me expect some kind of maple flavor.  Of course, that is before I realized the whole "caramel" thing.  And I loved the fact that it had chopped pecans on top, I adore pecans, and pecan pie and pumpkin pie are my two holiday favorites.  

I tried a chunk at room temperature, so excited, and was met with a big case of "meh".  Like the cheesecake version, the pastry really just was blah at room temperature: not flaky, not buttery, seemingly not very layered.  

And, um, wow, it was sooooo sweet.  And, sweet in a cloying way, which was ... their spin on caramel, clearly.  I love iced products, but this icing really was pushing it way over the top with sweetness, and I believe the filling was very sweetened as well.  The ingredient list includes brown sugar, powdered sugar, granulated sugar, fondant (just sugar and corn syrup combined), sugared egg yolks, dextrose, and molasses.  So all the ones from the cheesecake version, plus brown sugar, dextrose, and molasses.  Doh. #allTheSweeteners.  This seemed ... complicated, and unnecessary, but, anyway.

I still had some hope, as the cheesecake kringle was so much better warmed up.  So into the toaster oven, 350*, just a few minutes.

Seasonal Pumpkin Caramel Kringle: Cross Section.

It did toast up nicely, and like the cheesecake kringle, the pastry was dramatically better warmed up - a bit crisp and flaky on the exterior, moist and layered, buttery.  It is shocking to me how much the pastry changes with light warming.

The filling is very generous, the ratio of pumpkin filling to pastry just right. The filling is decently creamy, does taste like pumpkin, and there is some standard pumpkin spicing (cinamon, allspice, ginger), although the spicing is very mild, or perhaps just masked by sweetness.

And then, the sweetness.  Just, cloying to me.  The entire thing just came across as far, far, far too sweet.  I tried to tone it down by pairing with whipped cream, and ice cream, but the sweetness just never was something I could overcome.

Not a hit, sadly.

**+.