Pearl Simpson’s Kringla

What do the songs “Red, Red Wine”, “Respect” and my grandma’s recipe for kringla have in common?

They are all covers that are arguably better than the original.  Even Neil Diamond admits the UB40 version is better than his.  I don’t know anyone that prefers Otis Redding’s version to Aretha’s.

As you are probably aware, we do trivia.  Not only do we do trivia, my husband writes trivia, and sometimes we listen to trivia podcasts.  Recently, while walking to trivia, my husband told me about a podcast he’d recently listened to.

“…and I was getting so mad at the contestants.  The category was cover songs.  The moderator would give the original artist and the cover artist and the contestants were supposed to name the song.  They didn’t know any of them.”

“Ok, so give me some of the list,” I asked.

“Tommy James and the Shondells and Tiffany.” He started to say.

Before he was able to finish the question, I replied “I Think We’re Alone Now.”

And then he said, “Tina Turner and Ace of Base.”.

I was stumped. It wasn’t “the Sign” and I couldn’t imagine Tina Turner singing “All That She Wants.”

“I thought about the songs that I knew and I could almost hear Tina singing it” he said.

I was still clueless.

“Don’t Turn Around.” he explained patiently.

It all made sense after that.

We listened to both versions to see which we liked better.  This isn’t the first time we’ve done that.  In college I made a mix tape with 3 different versions of “Love Hurts” on it.  On car trips, we ask the kids to compare two different versions of the same songs.  Really, I have kind of awesome kids and they put up with a lot of weird whims that my husband and I have.  

It’s not just songs that we have them compare.  One time I brought home 3 different cuts of steak and prepared them all the same.  We tasted small portions of each one and compared the texture and the flavor to decide which one we liked best.  They preferred the tenderloin for the tenderness.  I preferred the strip for the flavor.

It’s important to teach children to have preferences.  It’s more important to teach them how to explain and perhaps defend their preferences.  Teaching people that they have a choice is powerful.  Which is why we did a side by side comparison of my grandma’s kringla and Pearl Simpson’s kringla.

You can read about my grandma’s kringla here.

It was late on a Friday night that I mixed up two batches of kringla.  Pearl Simpson’s buttermilk version went into one bowl and my grandma’s went into another.  Both bowls got wrapped and put in the beer fridge.  The regular fridge was full of other food.

On Saturday morning, I got up before everyone else and set to work.  The first batch I made was grandma’s classic recipe.  I grew up eating this recipe.  I felt that my bias toward it might’ve been unfair in the same way that my friend tends to prefer whichever version of a song she hears first.  (My husband told her that he was going to start learning new songs to sing to her so that his version would always be what she preferred.)

I went through the familiar process of manipulating the soft dough into knots and as the baking sheets went into the oven, people woke up to the smell of sweet vanilla and coffee.  The kringla was barely off the baking sheet before it made its way into waiting mouths.

“Don’t fill up too much! I still have another batch to make and we have to do a taste test.”

Barefooted, I stood in front of the counter with my hands covered with flour and dug into the still chilly bowl of Pearl Simpson’s kringla dough.  It didn’t feel the same as grandma’s dough, but it wasn’t too different.  It took me a couple of tries to manipulate the ropes into the figure 8’s recommended in the recipe.  I figured, if nothing else, it would be a good way to tell them apart.

As soon as Pearl Simpson’s kringla was out of the oven, the first pieces were consumed.  I watched as people’s faces changed.  They finished the delicate goody in their hand and then reached for another of grandma’s.

“Which is better?” I asked, but I didn’t really need to.

The kringla we all grew up with was the better of the two.  In order to make sure that we weren’t biased, I asked a friend who hadn’t grown up with the treat.  He agreed.  Grandma’s was better. 

Both recipes are delicious.  I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by either of them.  If you have buttermilk to use up, by all means, make Pearl Simpson’s kringla.  Shape it into knots, shape it into figure 8’s, it doesn’t matter.  It’s still melt-in-your-mouth amazing and the perfect treat for breakfast with coffee or an afternoon snack.  But, if you have some sour milk to use up, make grandma’s recipe. The original is good, but the cover is better.

The Recipe:

If you like this recipe, check out Delightful Danish Pastry, Danish Puff, and A Walk With My Sister Corn Flake Bars.