My husband has always been my biggest fan, especially when it comes to food. I will make him something and he will say “This is the best … I have ever eaten.” However, when I made these, he told me again and again that these were the best things he has ever put in his mouth. Let me just tell you, these babies are a little (okay, a lot) time-consuming to make but they are complete masterpieces. This is something that you will want to make when you want to blow someone’s socks off. If you are not a huge fan of recipes that take a long time to make, I would suggest buying puff pastry dough in the freezer section and cutting your time WAY down. I can tell you, they won’t be quite as amazing but they will be the next best thing. I have always wanted to make puff pastry. My very favorite thing in the world is chocolate stuffed puff pastry or croissants (we’re not talking Pillsbury canned croissants here folks, were talking tender, flaky, buttery heaven). I have known that it is a multiple day process so I have put it off but finally feeling motivated, I set off to find the perfect recipe and oh my goodness, I found it. Drumroll please…..
http://www.sprinkledwithjules.com/home/2015/6/14/croissants-2
This is the most beautifully blogged recipe. I took pictures of the whole process, but , honestly, there is no way that I could do what Jules has done here in her post. She explains everything beautifully and has AMAZING pictures which I LOVE so why try to recreate something that is already amazing!
So, that being said, first go to her blog and make your dough then stop at step 8 and come back here and learn how to stuff them
Ingredients:
1 batch of puff pastry/croissant dough – find recipe at http://www.sprinkledwithjules.com/home/2015/6/14/croissants-2
10 eggs
breakfast meat/filling of your choice (ie. 10 pieces of bacon, 20 slices of ham, 1 lb sausage)
1 egg (for brushing tops)
1 Tbsp heavy cream
20 slices of your favorite cheese (I used Havarti)
Directions:
Okay, so let’s say you have gone through the lengthy (but oh so worth it) process and you have your beautiful dough now. Let’s make the filling then we will take it out of the fridge and get started.
Beat one egg in a small dish. Pour into a buttered, preheated pan. Pick up your pan and circle it around to where the egg covers the bottom of the pan. Let cook about 20-30 seconds or until the egg is firm. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper then flip over. Cook for an additional 20-30 seconds.
Remove from heat and place one slice of bacon (or you can use any meat of your choice here, sausage, ham, prosciutto, or make it vegetarian and do spinach, mushrooms, whatever your heart desires). Top with your favorite cheese, ours is Havarti (super buttery and creamy). You can even add a little bit of your favorite hotsauce (Tapatio, Cholula, etc.) then roll everything up inside the egg.
Each one of these little rolls will be cut in half. So make one for every 2 croissants. I did 10 breakfast croissants and 10 chocolate stuffed croissants (which I will be blogging next)
Okay NOW time to get that beautiful dough from the fridge.
Cut it in half and wrap the other half in plastic wrap and place in your fridge. You will want to roll out the other half to about 8″x15″ and about 1/4″ thick. Now cut it into 10 squares.
Roll each square out so it’s about 4″x8″. Place half of one of your egg roll-ups inside and roll.
Now you will want to pinch the ends together and seal it up so that cheesy goodness stays inside.
Repeat this process until all of the dough is used.
Next step is to proof the croissants. You can do this 3 ways: (1)let the rolled croissants proof slowly in the refrigerator overnight, (2) let croissants proof out on the counter in a cool place for 3 hours, (3) let croissants proof in a slightly warm place for 1 hour. Letting them proof overnight in the fridge furthers the development of flavor, however at this point, keeping it real… I just let them proof on my counter for 1 hour because I wanted to eat them so bad 🙂
If croissants proofed in the fridge, remove them and let them come to room temperature on the counter, about 2 hours. When dough is proofed, the croissants will be puffy, but not doubled in size. When the baking sheet is jiggled, the croissants will jiggle a little.
Next, whisk 1 egg and 1Tbsp of heavy cream in a small dish. Now brush it on the tops of those beautiful rolls with a pastry brush, gently.
Place in a 400F degree oven for 30 minutes, rotating after 15 minutes, or until the tops are a deep golden brown. My oven cooks a little hot so it didn’t take the full 30 minutes. Watch them closely folks because after all of the time you have put in, the LAST thing we want to do at this point is burn these beauties. I can’t imagine the disappointment. I think I would cry.
Once they are baked to perfection, let them cool slightly so that they firm up. Don’t serve these babies to someone you don’t like. You worked way too hard to waste that effort (haha, just kidding… kind of).
Serve and sit back and listen to everyone rave as they close their eyes and savor every bite. Not kidding folks. They ARE that good.
Stay tuned for directions on stuffing them with chocolate which I highly recommend!
Stuffed Breakfast Croissants
Ingredients:
1 batch of puff pastry/croissant dough – find recipe at http://www.sprinkledwithjules.com/home/2015/6/14/croissants-2
10 eggs
breakfast meat/filling of your choice (ie. 10 pieces of bacon, 20 slices of ham, 1 lb sausage)
1 egg (for brushing tops)
1 Tbsp heavy cream
20 slices of your favorite cheese (I used Havarti)
Directions:
- Beat one egg in a small dish. Pour into a buttered, preheated pan. Pick up your pan and circle it around to where the egg covers the bottom of the pan. Let cook about 20-30 seconds or until the egg is firm. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper then flip over. Cook for an additional 20-30 seconds.
- Remove from heat and place one slice of bacon (or you can use any meat of your choice here, sausage, ham, prosciutto, or make it vegetarian and do spinach, mushrooms, whatever your heart desires). Top with your favorite cheese, ours is Havarti (super buttery and creamy). You can even add a little bit of your favorite hotsauce (Tapatio, Cholula, etc.) then roll everything up inside the egg. Each one of these little rolls will be cut in half. So make one for every 2 croissants. I did 10 breakfast croissants and 10 chocolate stuffed croissants (which I will be blogging next)
- Okay NOW time to get that beautiful dough from the fridge. Cut it in half and wrap the other half in plastic wrap and place in your fridge. You will want to roll out the other half to about 8″x15″ and about 1/4″ thick. Now cut it into 10 squares.
- Roll each square out so it’s about 4″x8″. Place half of one of your egg roll-ups inside and roll. Now you will want to pinch the ends together and seal it up so that cheesy goodness stays inside. Repeat this process until all of the dough is used.
- Next step is to proof the croissants. You can do this 3 ways: (1)let the rolled croissants proof slowly in the refrigerator overnight, (2) let croissants proof out on the counter in a cool place for 3 hours, (3) let croissants proof in a slightly warm place for 1 hour. Letting them proof overnight in the fridge furthers the development of flavor, however at this point, keeping it real… I just let them proof on my counter for 1 hour because I wanted to eat them so bad 🙂
- If croissants proofed in the fridge, remove them and let them come to room temperature on the counter, about 2 hours. When dough is proofed, the croissants will be puffy, but not doubled in size. When the baking sheet is jiggled, the croissants will jiggle a little.
- Next, whisk 1 egg and 1Tbsp of heavy cream in a small dish. Now brush it on the tops of those beautiful rolls with a pastry brush, gently.
- Place in a 400F degree oven for 30 minutes, rotating after 15 minutes, or until the tops are a deep golden brown. My oven cooks a little hot so it didn’t take the full 30 minutes. Watch them closely folks because after all of the time you have put in, the LAST thing we want to do at this point is burn these beauties. I can’t imagine the disappointment. I think I would cry.
- Once they are baked to perfection, let them cool slightly so that they firm up. Don’t serve these babies to someone you don’t like. You worked way too hard to waste that effort (haha, just kidding… kind of). Serve and sit back and listen to everyone rave as they close their eyes and savor every bite. Not kidding folks. They ARE that good.
Something Sweet Something Salty 