almond croissant pop tarts!!
not an almond croissant and not quite a pop tart, but maybe the best of both worlds.
The New York Times Cooking comments section is the best place on the internet. Yes, you will find lots of helpful tips and valuable insights from dedicated home cooks, but you will also find confessions of adultery, nonsensical ingredient substitutions, and colourful critiques that probably stem from unaddressed childhood trauma. It’s so entertaining and at times, almost batty.
An example:
“I have done this several times. If you love labor, and practice it, the result is very good–but never as good as Paris. Believe me, I have tried.
However, there is a faster recipe, and it takes less than 24 hours, most of it leisure time. Book a round-trip flight to Paris. On arrival, take an Uber to Maison Pichard 88 Rue Cambronne. Buy a dozen or more. Eat several with a nice café. Return to airport. Enjoy the flight home. You will be home in under 24 hours with something truly wonderful.”
A personal favourite, this comes from a fellow named Lance in response to Claire Saffitz’s recipe for croissants. Claire’s recipe is a “detailed roadmap” of 24 steps, each clearly outlined in text and with an accompanying video. Yielding 8 croissants, the whole process takes 24 hours. I have made croissants at home many times and I have made them in bakeries. While both are indeed a labour of love, the former is undeniably more challenging, a true “project bake”. And for 8 croissants, it’s a big investment of time and butter. Lance has a point.
If you’re craving a croissant, well frankly, I think you should go to Paris (can I come with you?!). But if that isn’t in the cards, and neither is spending your weekend encasing butter in dough and folding it on itself a million times, allow me to suggest an alternative:
“Almond Croissant” “Pop Tarts”!!
Not an almond croissant and not quite a pop tart, but maybe the best of both worlds, these are made with a simple all-butter and extra flaky pie dough, stuffed with almond frangipane, and topped with a dusting of icing sugar and a then drizzle of brandy caramel (if you want it). Close your eyes and they taste just like a classic Double Baked Almond Croissant: the same buttery, flaky goodness, all without hours of lamination or jet lag. A hack that deserves some credit, if I may say so myself.
Make these, please, and then give me your best NYT-inspired commentary!
enjoy!!
ksenia
*recipe follows below!
“almond croissant” “pop tarts” — the recipe!
All Butter, Extra Flaky Pie Dough
125g cake flour
125g ap flour
114g butter, cold, cut into small pieces
2.5g salt
5g white vinegar
25g egg
34g water (ice cold)
34g vodka* (ice cold)
Sift together all dry ingredients and whisk to incorporate.
Using your hands, rub the cold butter into the flour mixture, leaving pea size pieces in the mixture. Work quickly.
Combine the egg, water, vodka, and vinegar and add to the flour in a few additions, using a fork to gently incorporate. It should still be very dry and crumbly.
Turn the entire mixture onto the counter and fraisage**: use the heel of your hand to smear the butter into the flour. Use a bench knife or bowl scraper and stack the shaggy, butter-smeared dough back onto itself, then smear again. Continue until the butter is completely blended into the dough – it will be shaggy but evenly blended.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap tightly, then chill until ready to use.
*Vodka adds moisture to your dough without activating gluten. Too much gluten development will make your dough tough. Not overworking or overhandling your dough, plus this little vodka trick, will make it flaky!!
**Fraisage is the technique of smearing butter into thin layers that are coated in flour, resulting in an almost laminated dough. The butter will melt in the oven, generating steam and separating the layers of dough: that’s major flakiness!!
Frangipane:
150g butter (soft)
144g ground almond meal
150g sugar
30g ap flour
1 egg + 1 egg white
1 teaspoon salt
1-2 drops almond extract (optional)
Cream the butter until it looks like mayo.
Add all other ingredients and mix together until combined. Set aside.
Brandy Caramel
200g sugar
150g heavy cream
100g butter
2tbsp brandy
pinch of salt
In a small pot, warm the cream and add the pinch of salt.
In a medium pot over medium to low heat, make a dry caramel: add the sugar in increments, letting each addition melt and colour before adding more. You can gently agitate the pot or use a heatproof spatula to make sure it caramelizes evenly.
Once the caramel is at your desired level, slowly add the warm cream and whisk vigorously. Add the butter and whisk to emulsify. Remove from the heat and whisk in the brandy.
Cool and set aside.
Pop Tart Assembly
Roll the pie dough into a rectangle, 3mm thick. Cut into 2.5inch x 4inch rectangles (or desired size).
Spread a thick layer of frangipane on half the cut pieces, leaving a border around the edges. Pat a small amount of water around the exposed border. Take a non-frangi’d piece of dough and arrange it on top, pressing to seal the edges together and shaping your pop tart. Crimp with a fork or pinch together firmly with your fingers.
At this point, I like to pop them in the freezer for 20 minutes and bake them from frozen, or at least chilled.
Preheat oven to 375F.
When ready to bake, arrange the pop tarts on a parchment lined baking sheet and gently egg wash the tops. Bake pop tarts for 30-40 minutes until puffed and browned.
Did your frangipane ooze out the sides? Mine did. Yum.