Ring A Ling Pastry

A Ring A Ling Pastry is a delicious and flavorful treat that combines a sweet dough with a nutty filling and tangy orange glaze. It’s a copycat recipe from the 1955 Pillsbury Bake-Off winning recipe by Bertha Jorgensen. The spiral design is easy to do and gives you all the flavors of the pastry in every bite! For another citrus-flavored roll, try my Orange Cardamom Breakfast Twist, too!

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Ingredients & Substitutions

Dough: The recipe for the dough is from Pillsbury. However, we did test this recipe with crescent roll dough as well, which I will get into later.

Orange Zest: You will need 2 teaspoons of zest (grated orange peel). After grating the orange, juice it for freshly squeezed orange juice to use in the glaze.

Filling: The nutty filling is just three ingredients, confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, and chopped walnuts. You could substitute chopped pecans or filberts (hazelnuts) for the walnuts if preferred. The winning recipe for ring-a-ling pastries was made with filberts because Jorgensen wanted to represent her home state of Oregon.

Glaze: The fresh orange glaze is super simple, made with orange juice and confectioners’ sugar. It is drizzled over the pastries for even more citrus flavor.

Can I Make Ring A Ling Pastries Ahead Of Time?

Sure! You can certainly get the dough mixed and let it rise overnight in the refrigerator, for up to 24 hours. First, cover the dough, leaving room for expansion. Let it rise for about 20 minutes at room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator. When ready to continue with the recipe the next day, let the dough sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Then, simply follow the rest of the recipe!

Quick Ring A Ling Pastries {Using Store-bought Dough}

For a quicker (no rise time) and more convenient alternative to making these pastries, use a tube of crescent roll dough! When using crescent roll dough, look for the sheet with no perforations. (If it has the perforations, simply pinch them together as best as you can when rolling it out.) With the dough ready to go, you can jump to the assembly and baking instructions in the recipe. Follow them as written and enjoy the easy-peasy version of ring-a-lings!

How To Store Ring A Ling Pastries

Ring A Ling Pastries are best served warm and fresh. However, they should last up to 2-3 days when covered and stored at room temperature. Storing them in the refrigerator is not recommended as that will dry out the rolls faster. If freezing the baked rolls, do it without the glaze. They can be frozen for up to a month. When ready to enjoy, let the rolls thaw overnight at room temperature.

5 from 1 vote

Ring A Ling Pastry

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Rising Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

A Ring A Ling Pastry is a delicious and flavorful treat that combines a sweet dough with a nutty filling and tangy orange glaze. The spiral design is easy to do and gives you all the flavors of the pastry in every bite!

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Ingredients

Dough

• ▢ 4 cups (500 g) all-purpose flour, divided
• ▢ ⅓ cup (67 g) granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• ▢ 2 teaspoons orange zest
• ▢ 2 packets (4 ½ teaspoons) active dry yeast
• ▢ 1 cup (245 g) whole milk
• ▢ ⅓ cup (75.6 g) unsalted butter
• ▢ 2 large eggs, room temperature

Filling

• ▢ 1 cup (125 g) confectioners' sugar
• ▢ 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ▢ 1 cup (117 g) walnuts, finely chopped

Egg Wash

• ▢ 1 large egg, room temperature, beaten

Glaze

• ▢ 2 cups (250 g) confectioners' sugar
• ▢ ⅓ cup orange juice

Instructions

Dough

• To the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add 2 cups flour, granulated sugar, salt, orange zest, and yeast. Mix well and set aside.
• To a small saucepan over medium heat, add the milk and butter. Heat until the mixture reaches a temperature of 120°F-130°F.
• Add the warm mixture to the flour mixture. Mix at low speed until moistened. Then, increase the speed to medium, mixing for an additional 3 minutes.
• Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. By hand, stir in the remaining flour to form a stiff dough.
• Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free area until doubled in size, about 35-50 minutes.

Filling

• To a small bowl, add confectioners' sugar, butter, and walnuts. Mix until combined. Set aside.

Assembly & Baking

• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Once the dough has doubled in size, punch the dough to deflate it and turn it out onto a floured surface. Roll into a rectangle, approximately 14×20 inches.
• Spread the filling mixture lengthwise over half of the dough. Fold the unfilled dough over the filling. Cut it vertically into 16 equal-sized strips
• Working one strip at a time, hold one end. Twist 4 to 5 times. Coil (or wrap) the twisted strip around the center to create a spiral and tuck the loose end underneath the pastry. Place it onto a lined baking sheet and repeat this process for the remaining strips. I was able to add 8 pastries to each baking sheet.
• Cover. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45-50 minutes.
• When ready, preheat the oven to 375°F.
• Brush the risen rolls with the beaten egg and bake for 18-20 minutes.
• Let the pastries cool a bit as you prepare the glaze.

Glaze

• In a small bowl, mix the confectioners' sugar with the orange juice until combined. Drizzle the glaze over the warm pastries. Serve warm.

Nutrition

Serving: 1pastry | Calories: 317kcal

Course: Dessert

Keyword: Ring A Ling Pastry

Servings: 16 pastries

Calories: 317

Author: Amanda Rettke–iambaker.net

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What the Test Kitchen had to say about this recipe:

Elizabeth

Citrusy rolls are not my favorite; why mess with a good old-fashioned roll? But, these rolls have a really neat design and the orange and nutty flavors do come through with every bite (which is the purpose of the spiraling). It's a solid recipe, just not my flavor profile.

Bella

The orange flavor shines through way more than what I had expected! It has a beautiful hint of citrus flavor alongside the nutty flavor. The dough was not as moist as I would have wanted it though.

Annabelle

This pastry is an interesting one for sure, the flavor is lovely and the texture is a little flaky, very unique experience!

Selena

I love the orange flavor of these with the slight hint of nut. They are a little more dry than I would prefer but the glaze does help with that.

Rachael

These are more dry than I usually prefer but the walnut and orange flavor really comes through. I definitely have some family members that would love these!