Description
Ridiculously easy almond croissants made with a citrus peel simple syrup, almond cream (frangipane), and sliced almonds.
Ingredients
Scale
Croissants + Toppings
- 8 stale croissants* (day-old, storebought croissants work great)
- 1 cup sliced almonds, for topping
- 1/4 cup (30 g) powdered sugar, more or less as desired
Simple Syrup
- 1 cup water
- 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
- orange peel strips from half an orange, approximately 1″x4″ pieces
Almond Cream (Frangipane)
- 1 stick or 8 tbsp (115 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cup (125 g) almond flour or almond meal*
- 2/3 cup (80 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
- orange zest from half an orange (optional)
Instructions
- Make simple syrup and cool. Add water, sugar, and orange peel to a small saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Continue simmering for 4-5 minutes, then pour the syrup with orange peel into a heatproof bowl. Place in the fridge or freezer to cool while you make the almond cream.
- Make almond cream. Add room temperature butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and orange zest to the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl and hand mixer). Mix until well-combined and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beating and scraping the sides in between each addition. Add almond flour and all-purpose flour. Mix on low until combined. Spoon the finished almond cream into a bowl, piping bag, or ziploc bag. Place in fridge or freezer to cool while you prep the croissants.
- Preheat oven + slice croissants. Preheat oven to 350º F. Using a serrated knife, slice the croissants in half horizontally (like for a sandwich), and place the cut croissants on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Dip croissants in syrup. Remove simple syrup from the freezer or fridge, and make sure it’s cooled off enough to at least room temp. Pour syrup into a bowl large enough to dip a croissant. Dip each croissant, cut-side down into the syrup, then flip over and lightly dip the outsides. Hold the croissant halves above the bowl for a few seconds to allow excess syrup to drip down. Place on the baking sheet and repeat with the rest of the croissants.
- Fill with almond cream. Open each croissant and fill with 2 tbsp of almond cream on the bottom half of the croissant, spreading it over the entire cut side. Place the top half on and press down lightly. Repeat for the rest of the croissants. Spread or pipe 1 tbsp of almond cream on the top of each croissant. Dip the topsides onto a plate of sliced almonds so that the almonds stick securely on top. Repeat for the rest.
- Bake. Bake the croissants for 18-22 minutes in the center rack until golden brown. Make sure to check that the almonds are nice and toasty, not too dark. Cool the croissants for 15-20 minutes before serving.
- Serve. Dust croissants with powdered sugar and enjoy! I occasionally pair these croissants with a swipe of orange, apricot. or peach jam, too!
Notes
- Croissants – if you have fresh croissants, leave them uncovered in the fridge overnight to quicken the drying process.
- Almond meal – if you don’t have almond flour for this recipe, you can replace it with almond meal by processing almonds in a food processor. Add the 125g (or 1 1/4 cups) of almonds into the food processor and run on high speed until almonds are fine. Then add the 80g (or 2/3 cup) of all-purpose flour to the processor, and pulse both together on high until the mixture resembles a fine but slightly coarse meal. The flour helps dehydrate the almonds and gets you a finer texture. Add this almond + flour mixture in the frangipane recipe as instructed.
Keywords: almond croissants, croissants, almond, leftovers