Kringla, a Swedish Favorite for the Holidays

Kringla, or Kringle,  is a Scandinavian cookie mainly consisting of sour cream, flour, and sugar. It has a soft bread-like texture and is formed in the shape of a figure-eight.  The taste is subtly sweet, and the sour cream enriches the dough, giving it a balanced buttery finish.  I grew up eating Kringla every Christmas season. It is a big hit since my mom’s side of the family is Swedish (I can’t say whether or not this is actually Swedish or Norwegian Kringla, but I can say I’m biased to the name).

Christmas isn’t the same without Kringle. This is the first year I will have spent spent Christmas away from my family.  However, the tradition of serving kringle no matter where I am, never dies.

It is a great dish to serve on Christmas morning as all your family and friends move back and forth from the kitchen to the living room, unwrapping presents in between bites.

KRINGLE RECIPE

2 cups sour cream

1 tsp. baking soda (Stir into sour cream)

1 cup sugar

3 cups  flour

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking powder

Combine sour cream and baking soda.  Stir in the sugar.  Sift remainder of dry ingredients together and add to the sour cream mixture.  Chill thoroughly.  Probably overnight.  This is a very soft and sticky dough.

Sprinkle some flour onto a flat surface and drop blobs of dough onto the flour and with a light touch stretch into a log and form into figure 8s.  This takes some practice since the dough is so sticky but that is what makes them so good.  Place on a lightly greased baking sheet.

Heat oven to 450 degrees.  Bake just until firm, not brown.