Almond Croissants with Frangipane Cream
- Prep
- 40 min
- Bake / cook
- 50 min
- Total
- 1 h 30 min
These almond croissants are absolutely delicious. They are filled with frangipane, a pastry cream combined with almond cream, and the result is one of the best croissants I have ever tried.
Ingredients
Dough
- 500 g all-purpose flour (000)
- 140 ml water
- 140 ml milk
- 55 g sugar
- 40 g butter
- 10 g instant yeast
- 12 g salt
Butter block
- 280 g butter
Egg wash
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon water
Syrup
- 100 ml water
- 100 g sugar
- Lemon peel
Frangipane cream
- 250 ml milk
- 50 g egg yolk
- 60 g sugar
- 20 g cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 50 g butter
- 50 g almond flour
- 50 g powdered sugar
- 5 g cornstarch
- 1 egg
Metric measurements: a kitchen scale gives the best results.
Method
- Dough
To make the dough, put the yeast in a small glass with the water and mix well. Meanwhile, put the rest of the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix them well. Then add the milk and the water with the yeast and start forming the dough. Finally, add the butter. Knead until you have a smooth ball of dough, then let it rest for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, put the butter on plastic wrap and flatten it into a rectangle. Keep it in the fridge until the dough has rested.
- Laminating
After the 30 minutes, take the butter block out of the fridge and roll out the dough on the counter with a little flour, giving it a rectangular shape (it must be bigger than the butter block so you can enclose it like a package). Once the dough is rolled out, place the butter block on it and seal it very well. With a rolling pin, stretch it out a little and give it a first double fold, then let the dough rest covered in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Repeat this process three more times. After the last fold, let the dough rest for at least one hour.
- Shaping
After this time, roll out the dough to about 20 cm by 110 cm long. Trim the edges and then cut triangles with a 12 cm base. Shape the croissants and brush them with some of the egg wash. Let them rest for two hours.
- Baking
After this time, brush them again with egg wash and decorate with sliced almonds.
Bake the croissants in a 180°C (350°F) oven until they turn golden brown.
- Syrup
For the syrup, put all the ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it cook until it reduces by half. Cool.
When you take the croissants out of the oven, brush them with the syrup.
- Frangipane cream
For the frangipane cream, first prepare a pastry cream: put the milk with half of the sugar in a saucepan. Heat until it reaches boiling point.
Then, in a bowl, put the yolks with the rest of the sugar and the cornstarch. Pour in half of the hot milk and mix well, return it to the saucepan and cook over heat until it thickens.
Mix the almond flour with the 5 g of cornstarch, the powdered sugar and the butter until creamy. Add the egg and mix well.
Mix the almond cream with the hot pastry cream. Let it cool down a bit and then refrigerate.
- Filling
Fill the croissants with the cold almond cream and enjoy.
Almond croissants
Today I’m sharing this almond croissant recipe, a classic of French pastry. These are classic croissants, but with frangipane cream inside, and I added sliced almonds on top to give them a crunchy touch and also something to decorate the croissants with. If you don’t like almonds, you can fill them with just pastry cream, with another cream you like, or leave them unfilled. They are delicious that way too.
Tips for choosing the ingredients for these almond croissants
When it comes to the ingredients, there are a few things worth keeping in mind. I’m leaving them here below for anyone who is interested.
- Almond flour: this recipe uses almond flour in the frangipane. You can use the kind without skin (the one generally used for macarons) or the kind with skin. You can also make it at home by grinding almonds.
- Butter: it is always better to use good-quality butter for this type of preparation.
- Sliced almonds: I chose to put sliced almonds on top, simply to add a crunchy touch, but they can perfectly well be left out.
