It is not the Holidays without something homemade. I make Swedish Tea Rings before Thanksgiving as one batch makes three rings. I freeze them and pull one out for Thanksgiving, one for Christmas, and one for New Years. They freeze well.
4 cups flour
1 teapoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup of lukewarm milk
1 package of yeast
3 egg yolks
mix the package of yeast into the milk and allow it to sit ( I use a glass bowl and wooden spoon for this step as I for some reason think that yeast does not like metal)
with a mixer cream the butter then add the sugar followed by the egg yolks
add the disolved yeast mixture to the flour then add them to the butter mix should result in a stiff dough
chill the dough overnight
filling: 2 packages of chopped dates, 2 cups of black raisins, 2 cups of golden raisins, 2 cups of chopped walnuts, 2 cups of slivered almonds ( you can play with this .... sometimes I use pecans instead of almonds)
melted butter and brown sugar needed for this step
after the dough has chilled overnight about 2 hours prior to baking divide the dough into 3 equal parts.. take one part and roll out the dough on a floured surface.. spread the dough with melted butter and sprinkle with brown sugar place above filling onto the dough and roll up the dough forming a cresent shape repeat this step for the other two rings
place cresents on a cookie sheet and place in a warm place I use my oven ( I turn it one to the warm setting) allow the rings to rise until they are double in size then bake at 350 degrees for 30 mins. or until they are golden brown You may glaze them with a 10 X Confection sugar and water glaze; but I omit this as they are rich enough as is. This is really an easy thing to make that always turns out well. Enjoy.
