Christmas Kringle, my way

This is an easier version of the kringle we have received from a neighbor almost every Christmas since we moved to this house.  The neighbor has the kringles he gives shipped from the “American home of kringles” Wisconsin, so they are the real thing — and delicious.

This culinary journey began last Christmas when I made the original of this recipe called (cleverly) Cream Cheese Dessert.  It was popular with everyone who tried it, but it was hard to get done in the middle of the 9×13 pan, so I actually didn’t use the very center of  the pan — it was just too mushy.  So this year, I changed that recipe to make it a little more like a kringle (thin) and we really liked the result and it was cooked all the way through!

So, here is my recipe:

Christmas Kringle

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Ingredients:

2 can crescent roll sheets 

3 (8 oz.) packages of (1/3 less fat) cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/2 C. sugar, divided

1 1/2 t. vanilla

raspberry preserves

1 stick butter (1/2 C.)

Unroll one of the sheets of dough and place it on a lightly floured countertop.  Roll it to fit a 10×15 jelly roll pan.  It will be very thin.  Just gently push it into all the corners of the pan and up the sides a little, repairing any little holes that appear as you go.

Beat the cream cheese with 1 1/4 C. of the  sugar and the vanilla in a bowl until smooth.  Spread the mixture on the dough in the pan.

Spread  raspberry preserves thinly on top of the cream cheese mixture.

Roll out the second sheet of dough and place over the top.

Melt the butter and pour as evenly as possible over the top.  It will tend to pool in places, which you won’t be able to correct completely, but it will be fine.

Sprinkle the other 1/4 cup of sugar over the top.

Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown on top — approximately 15 minutes.*

*Note:  Next year I will make one more adjustment — I’m going to bake it a little longer and get it a little darker.  It would be nice if the crust was a little crunchy.)

That’s it!  Hope you enjoy these.

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends.  I’m going to try to post more often in 2013 — lucky you.  (tongue in cheek)  I am so blessed by the friends I have made through blogging.  I don’t want to lose touch with you!