Almond croissants - A very special breakfast treat
October 27th, 2010

Time flies when you’re having fun – or editing a cookbook, or both. I know, it’s been a while, but since multi-tasking is not my greatest strength (there, I said it!), I had to cut back somewhere.  Apologies to you, my beloved blog and to you, my dear readers. But if this little time-out pays off in a beautiful cookbook, you won’t hold grudges, no? And my recipe box is almost bursting with fabulous ideas I can’t wait to share with you in the near future!

What do you serve on a special breakfast occasion?  Freshly baked scones with clotted cream? Majorcan Ensaimadas? Brioche with a hint of saffron? Fluffy popovers? Or a bright pink berry-flavored Bircher Müesli? Honestly, my recipe folder has a fair share of lovely breakfast treats, and still, I cannot stop looking for more exquisite ideas to start the day. Currently my delicious-bookmark  tag “breakfast” holds precisely 136 recipes and one of them is Clotilde’s recipe for almond croissants. It’s dead easy, a perfect excuse to let your croissants first go stale and then turn them into a fantastic treat . I’ll promise you that these will hijack your breakfast top ten at first bite.

These croissants are a far cry from what you would call “a light breakfast”, and I challenge you to find someone who would consider these twice-baked croissants wholesome or even healthy. But you know what? It doesn’t really matter. Sometimes a breakfast is all about indulgence. Try for yourself.

Preheat the oven to 180 °C (350 °F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Slice the croissants in half and place on the baking sheet – cut side down.

Prepare the syrup: Combine water, 1 tablespoon sugar and alcohol in a small saucepan. Heat until the sugar has dissolved completely.

Prepare the croissant filling: In a food processor combine the 50 g sugar, the blanched almonds and the salt until finely ground, then add butter and mix well. Finally add the egg until a creamy paste forms.

Brush the prepared croissant halves (top and bottom outer sides only) generously with the syrup, then spread a generous layer of the almond paste inside and put the two halves together again. Finally spread some almond paste on top of the croissant and sprinkle with sliced almonds.

Bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 15 minutes or until some almonds have turned golden. Take out, let cool slightly on a wire rack, then dust with confectioners’ sugar. Best eaten while still warm!

Almond croissants

Recipe source: adapted from Clotilde

Prep time: ~15 minutes, baking time: ~15 minutes

Ingredients (for 3 croissants)

.

3 (stale) croissants

50 ml water

1 tbsp sugar (white or brown)

1 tbsp rhum or Pitu

50 g caster sugar

50 g blanched almonds, sliced, slivered or whole

1 pinch of sea salt

50 g butter, diced

1 egg (medium or large)

25 g sliced almonds (preferably with skin)

finish: dust with confectioners' sugar

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