Burnt Nuts and Junk Falling From The Sky

So here we sit – March 13, 2020 – full time working and full time homeschooling – all of us in the house together managing the best we can. I sincerely hope by time this posts that all of this is a distant memory – but who knows. Last Thursday I was wandering through the grocery store on my lunch calmly gathering my groceries for the weekend and following week while those around me were clearing out shelves of various items – bottled water and toilet paper. I stumbled upon a bag of sliced almonds! I remembered I had a recipe with almonds and these would likely be perfect. I started looking around wondering if I was under reacting, because it sure felt like that. The next day few days the news got worse and worse until COVID-19 basically shut down our state. So there we sat… at home on a Saturday, nothing to do, all our plans canceled – it was as if the weather outside mirrored our moods, it was raining, snowing, crapping from the sky in the least pretty way possible. Snow in March isn’t pretty people – it’s just not. Bronwyn and I decided to bake this Danish Puff. My kids love baking but not really the eating of it. She wanted to like it – but she just didn’t. That’s OK – we enjoyed the time together and Andy and I sure enjoyed this Puff. I also totally burned the almonds while trying to roast them in the pan. Ugh… I see them burn them all the time on TV and think how dumb. Hey look Erin! How dumb! There you go.

Danish Puff (Almond Kringle)
Ingredients
For Pastry:
1 cup flour
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature*
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water
For Topping:
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsalted butter*
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs

For Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature*
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt
1 to 2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup chopped or sliced almonds, toasted

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare Pastry:
Combine 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup butter in a medium bowl; blend with fork until mixture is the size of coarse crumbs.
Sprinkle water over mixture and mix.
Gather pastry into a ball, then pat into bottom of an ungreased 9 x 13-inch baking pan. Set aside.
Prepare Topping:
Bring 1 cup water and 1/2 cup butter to a boil in a medium saucepan.
Remove from heat, then add almond extract. Beat in 1 cup flour, stirring vigorously to avoid lumps.
When dough is smooth, add an egg and mix until incorporated; repeat process with remaining eggs.
Spread topping evenly over pastry.
Bake for 50 to 60 minutes or until topping is crisp and brown. Let cool completely on a baking rack.

Prepare Glaze:
Place powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of water at a time; stirring until completely smooth. Add more water only if needed. (The glaze should be easily spreadable, but not runny.)
Spread glaze over cooled kringle. Sprinkle with nuts.
Cut kringle into squares and serve. Enjoy!