Almond Croissants a delicious, flaky, homemade treat that brings the bakery to you! Give this recipe for almond croissants a try, every buttery batch is well worth it!
These homemade croissants are little bites of heaven, almond paste and topped with slivered almonds, there’s no escaping the delicious flavor and aroma of these buttery pastries. Read on for how to make croissants from the comfort of your own home!
What are almond croissants?
Almond croissants are a tasty, buttery, flaky, pastry filled with almond taste in every bite. These croissants are perfectly rich, sweet, savory, and absolutely heavenly. Making this almond croissant recipe from scratch is a treat everyone will enjoy, and a true labor of love. Serve up these amazing homemade croissants for breakfast, snack or a sweet treat after dinner. Really, they are satisfying any time of day!
Ingredients for Homemade Almond Croissants
Flour: The base of this croissant dough is 4 cups of all purpose flour.
Sugar: You need ⅓ cup of granulated sugar to feed the yeast and make the dough sweet.
Yeast: With 4 teaspoons of instant dry yeast, you can get a puffed-up dough that is light and airy.
Salt: This will help enhance the flavors in the dough, so add in 2 ½ teaspoons of fine grain salt to make the croissants taste incredible.
Butter: Use 2 cups of cold unsalted butter to make these croissants taste rich, buttery, and have great flakey layers.
Milk: You will need 1 ½ cups of cold whole milk to help bring the dough together.
Egg wash: Make an egg wash of 1 egg, beaten and mixed with 1 teaspoon of water. This will help to get great color from the croissants as they bake.
Almond filling
Almond paste: Using about 6 ounces of almond paste will make sure that there is enough to fill the inside of every croissant.
Sliced Almonds: You will want about 6 ounces of sliced almonds for topping over the croissants.
How to make Almond Croissants
Make the dough
Start by combing the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt in a medium sized mixing bowl.
Then, cube the cold butter into small pieces and fold them into the mixture until butter is coated in flour. After that, add the milk and stir until the mixture is sticky.
If needed, turn the dough out onto a floured surface to finish combining. You want the mixture to be sticky, but DO NOT KNEAD THE DOUGH or over incorporate the butter.
Proceed to wrap the dough in some wax paper and then place it into a zip locked bag and store it in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
Shape dough & chill
Once the dough has been chilled for an hour, roll it out onto a floured surface until it measures about 10×22 inches.
Then, fold the dough in thirds like a letter. Rotate the dough 90 degrees, roll it out again. Try to keep it at 10×22 as best as you can.
The more you rotate, fold, and roll your croissant dough the harder it gets, this is normal. Rotate at least 4 times and aim for 6 folds.
After that is complete, place the dough back in the fridge for at least another hour.
Shape dough
Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and then place it on the workspace. Proceed to cut the dough in half and roll each section into a long about 10×22 long. If needed, use a pizza cutter to trim off the rough edges.
Next, cut the rectangle into thirds across the short side of the dough. Use a pizza cutter to cut those triangles by going from one corner to the other.
Then cut a 1/2 inch-1 inch long slice on the long side of the triangle. Continue to fill that slit with almond paste (if using) by rolling the dough into logs and spacing it along the triangle.
Roll the long edge towards the smaller point and curve the ends of the croissant inward pinching together if needed as that will help to encourage the shape to stay.
Proof dough
Place the croissants on a baking sheet that has been lined in parchment paper and proof the dough for at least 2 hours at room temp.
You can proof for up to 4 hours, as the longer the proof time the lighter and fluffier the croissants will become.
Bake
Get the oven preheating to 375 degrees F.
In a small bowl, whisk together an egg with a dash of water to make the egg wash. Brush the egg wash over the top of each of the croissants.
Sprinkle croissants with sliced almonds immediately after brushing with egg wash so that the almonds stick.
Place the croissants in the preheated oven and bake for 19-22 minutes. The outer shell should be flaky, and a little crunchy. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes.
Serve and enjoy!
Almond Croissants
Ingredients
Dough:
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 4 tsp instant dry yeast*
- 2 ½ tsp fine grain salt
- 2 cup unsalted butter cold
- 1 ½ cup whole milk cold
- 1 whole egg whisked with a teaspoon of water
Almond Filling
- 6 oz almond paste
- 6 oz sliced almonds
Instructions
- Make the dough: Mix dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, sugar, yeast and salt) – combine well. Cut the butter into small cubes/pieces. Fold into the dry mixture until butter pads are coated. Pour in the milk. Stir to combine until mixture is sticky. You may need to turn out onto the counter to finish combining all the dry ingredients until the mixture is sticky. Just be cautious that you do not knead the dough and over-incorporate the butter. Wrap tightly in wax paper or place in a gallon size Ziploc bag. Refrigerate for at least one hour.
- Shape dough & chill: After at least an hour, remove the chilled dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough in a long rectangular shape until it measures about 10 inches by 22 inches. Fold into thirds like you’re folding a letter. Rotate 90 degrees. Roll out again. Try to get it as close to that 10×22 measurement as best as you can. It’s going to get harder and harder to roll the more times you fold it, which is normal. It’s bound to get smaller and smaller as it gains layers. The more times you fold it, the more layers you’ll get. Repeat the rolling / folding / rotating at least four times. Aim for six folds. Refrigerate for at least another hour.
- Shape dough: Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Cut the dough in half – taking time to enjoy the cross section that shows all those layers of goodness that you just rolled out! Roll each section into a long rectangular shape, approximately 10x22in. Using a pizza cutter, cut off any rough edges.
- Cut the rectangle in thirds across the short sides as seen in the photos. Then using the pizza cutter, cut those rectangles into triangles by going from one corner diagonal up and across the rectangle (see photo). Cut a ½ – 1 inch slice in the long side of the triangle. Fill with almond paste if using by rolling into logs and spacing along the triangle.
- Roll from the long edge towards the small point of the triangle. Curve the ends inward to form the crescent, pinching the ends together if you can to encourage the shape to stay. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet to rise.
- Proof dough: Proof for at least two hours at room temperature. Recommended to proof for about four hours to get a lighter density.
- Bake: Get the oven preheating to 375degrees F.
- Whisk an egg with a dash of water and do an egg wash on the croissants. Sprinkle croissants with sliced almonds immediately after the egg wash to stick the pieces on the croissant dough.
- Place the croissants in the preheated oven and bake for 19-22 minutes. The outer shell should be flaky, and a little crunchy. Let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
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Are croissants hard to make?
Croissants are not a hard recipe to make from scratch but they can be rather time consuming. There are about 30 minutes of active working time where you’ll be stirring the dough, rolling it out, and shaping it but then there are 2-6 hours of time spent proofing and chilling the dough that can take up a portion of your day as well. That said, enjoying croissants fresh from the oven makes all the time and effort worth it.
When are croissants done proofing?
You know that the croissants are finished proofing when they have grown, if not doubled in size. You should be able to look in from the side and see layers created within the croissant. When they bake, these become even more prominent.
Why didn’t my croissants rise?
There are a lot of reasons why your croissant dough didn’t rise and the biggest reasons include the dough being overworked or the temperature in the room was too cold. The more likely one is that the dough was overworked as croissants have a pretty fragile dough and it can be hard to resist making layers too thin or kneading as you incorporate the mixture.
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Almond Croissants are an incredible tasty, flaky treat that brings the bakery to you! Try this recipe for almond croissants, they may be a labor of love but well worth the effort.
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