Luxembourg Almond Bretzel
A pretzel-shaped pastry, with almond and cinnamon filling, almond glaze, and sliced almonds on top. A Luxembourg delicacy given to the one you LOVE on Pretzel Sunday, the 4th Sunday of Lent.
Servings: 8
Ingredients
Quick Puff Pastry (adapted from a favorite recipe by Baker Bettie)
- Visit this link: https://bakerbettie.com/quick-puff-pastry/ for amazing step-by-step photos
- 2 cups (240g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (2g) salt
- 1 cup 2 sticks (225g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 8-10 Tablespoons (120-140ml) water, ice cold
Bretzel Filling
- 2/3 cup (64g) almond flour
- 2 Tablespoons (20g) coconut sugar—can use brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- pinch of salt
Egg Wash
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon milk or water
Almond Glaze
- 1 cup (114g) powdered sugar
- 2 Tablespoons hot water
- 1 teaspoon almond emulsion or almond extract
- 1 cup sliced almonds (for sprinkling on top of glaze)
Instructions
Quick Puff Pastry (adapted from a favorite recipe by Baker Bettie):
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the flour and salt.
- Add the cold cubed butter to the bowl and toss it throughout the flour until each butter cube is coated.
- Press down on each piece of butter with your fingertips until each one is flattened out. Some butter pieces may break into two pieces. Try to keep most of the pieces very large, just flatten them out. Do not work the butter in as much as you would do with a pie crust.
- When all of the butter has been flattened start adding the ice-cold water a few tablespoons at a time. Use your hands to toss the water throughout the mixture. Keep adding the water until most of the flour is moistened and the mixture starts forming large clumps.
- Spread out a piece of plastic wrap on the counter. On the plastic wrap, press the dough together into a rectangular shape and then wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.
- After the dough has chilled, flour a work surface and roll the dough out into a skinny rectangle about ¼" (½-cm) thick.
- Fold the dough over itself into thirds (fold the top third of the dough over onto the middle third and then the bottom third over onto the top/middle third). Then rotate the dough 90 degrees to the left. Roll out and fold the dough 3 more times (for a total of 4), always rotating 90 degrees in the same direction between each fold.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate before using it. Ideally, 1 hour is best before rolling it out. The dough can be refrigerated for a total of 48 hours between this chilling time and the first.
- This dough can be wrapped well in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 2 months. Let thaw in the refrigerator overnight before using.
Bretzel Filling:
- Mix all ingredients in a small bowl until fully incorporated.
Shaping the Bretzel:
- Preheat oven to 375° F.
- After second fridge time, roll out pastry dough into a long, thin rectangle until it is ¼" (½-cm) thick. (see note)
- Spread with a very thin layer of melted butter or spritz lightly with cooking spray. Spread with fingers so entire surface of dough is oiled. Spread ¼ cup of filling evenly on entire surface of the rectangle of dough (use more filling if needed). With a rolling pin, roll over the filling with a rolling pin—to press it into the dough. Use pizza cutter or knife to cut ¾” strips—you get about 6-10 strips, depending on how wide your rectangle is.
- Gently twist each strip of pastry—making sure the dough side is showing, not the filling side. Pull and stretch as you twist.
- Twist into a pretzel shape by first making a teardrop shape with the ends of the strip twisted together twice at the top of the teardrop (see photo). Then fold the twists to the center of the tear drop and firmly press the ends into the dough to form a pretzel shape.
- Place pretzel shaped pastries on an ungreased (but covered with silpat or parchment paper) baking sheet. Use your fingers to open up the pretzel holes a little bit.
- If it took you a long time to form these pretzels, put in fridge for 5-10 minutes to firm up the butter in the pastry dough.
Egg Wash and Bake:
- When all the strips are twisted and shaped into pretzels, make the egg wash by placing one cracked egg in a small bowl. Add milk or water. Use a fork or whisk to create a smooth egg wash.
- Brush the egg wash onto each pastry. Immediately sprinkle a little filling onto the wet egg wash.
- Bake pastries at 375° F for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. (Don’t be alarmed by butter seeping from the pastries onto the baking pan.)
Almond Glaze:
- While pastries are baking, make the almond glaze.
- Mix together ingredients with a rubber spatula or whisk.
- Prepare sliced almonds and place in a bowl.
- Remove pastries from the oven and immediately place each pastry on a cooling rack sitting on top of a cool baking pan. Drizzle generously each pastry, one by one, with almond glaze and immediately sprinkle with sliced almonds. When finished, drizzle glaze on each pastry again.
- Can serve these Bretzels immediately or store at room temperature for 2-3 days.
Notes
Note about Quick Puff Pastry: If the dough feels too warm, feels rubbery, or is shrinking back a lot while rolling out to do your folds, let it rest in the fridge for 10 minutes to relax the gluten and to let the fat firm up.
Note about Rolling out Pastry Dough: If you roll your pastry dough to be very thin and very long, your pretzels will be larger and you will have less individual pastries. If you roll your pastry dough to be closer to a square, your pretzels will be small, the pretzel shape will not be as noticeable, but you will have more individual pastries.