The Danish pastry popular in Racine, Wisconsin, is called a kringle.
A Racine kringle is a large, oval pastry made from laminated Danish dough, whose many buttery layers become flaky as they bake. It is commonly filled with fruit, nuts, cinnamon, or other sweet mixtures, then finished with icing. Although the original European form was associated with a pretzel-like shape, the Racine version is usually an oval.
Danish immigrants helped establish kringle-making in southeastern Wisconsin, and Racine became known as the “Kringle Capital” of the United States. Family bakeries such as O&H Danish Bakery, Bendtsen’s Bakery, and Lehmann’s Bakery helped preserve and popularize the local tradition.
Wisconsin designated kringle its official state pastry on June 30, 2013. The pastry is sometimes mistaken for strudel or a bear claw, but those have different dough styles and shapes. A kringle is specifically the flaky, filled Danish pastry strongly associated with Racine’s Danish-American food culture.