Cheat's Orange Flavored Mini Croissants

I call this the Cheat's Croissants because the puff pastry is not made from scratch, but is store bought. I learned how to make puff pastry when I went for the short course at Le Cordon Bleu, but when you're not a full time chef and when you don't have an air-conditioned kitchen in a hot and humid country like Singapore, it's just so difficult to make it from scratch. You must be some kind of gastronomic masochist to be able to do it, when you have limited time and no air-conditioning. :)

Anyway, I cheated and made these croissants with store bought puff pastry. They still do have a personal touch, with that homemade sweetened orange rind, and orange syrup which I did make from scratch. But if you have no time and you really want to be a "double cheat", you can also get store bought, chunky orange marmalade. :)

The family loved it and once they devoured it, they immediately gave suggestions for other flavours, like peach, Nutella, chocolate...the possibilities are endless...for more cheating!




Here are some pictures of me, "slaving" away at LCB's comfortable, air-conditioned kitchen, making plain and chocolate croissants.

I had fun making them, but it really is tedious when the environment is hot, because all that hardened butter in between those layers of pastry will keep melting. When this happens, your croissant is not as flaky as it's supposed to be. I'd love to be able to make some from scratch again. (Note to self: get kitchen air-conditioned someday.)

So like I said, I cheated and made the croissants with store bought puff pastry:

This one has butter in it, instead of shortening. So they'd work better with homemade croissants.

I figured I'd cheat with the pastry, but not the filling, which is homemade, sweet orange rinds and orange syrup.

CHEAT'S ORANGE FLAVORED MINI CROISSANTS
Makes 16 small pieces

Ingredients:

1 sheet of puff pastry
Rind of 1 large orange
1/8 cup white sugar (for the syrup) + 1/2 cup white sugar (for dusting the rinds)
1/8 cup water
1 egg

Procedure:

1.  Prepare the filling by peeling the orange with a knife. Remove the pith underneath the skin (this is what makes it bitter), and cut the rind into small strips.

2.  Heat some water to boiling, and drop the rind into it. Boil for a few minutes to remove the bitter taste of the rinds. Strain and get the rinds. Throw away the water.

3. Now it's time to make some syrup. Boil 1/8 cup water and 1/8 cup sugar. Drop the rinds into them to coat well with the syrup. Stir.

4.  Strain the rinds once more, and collect the liquid in the bowl. Don't throw this away; this is now your HOMEMADE ORANGE SYRUP.

5.  Put the 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl. Drop the rinds in batches and coat them with the sugar. Another way to do this is to put the sugar in a plastic bag, drop the rinds and shake the bag. Don't throw away the sugar (you now have Orange Flavoured Sugar, which you can use for other desserts or even coffee or tea!).

6.  Strain the sugared rinds in a dry sieve.

Set aside.

7.  Start making the croissants! Remember, work fast and if the pastry becomes soft and soggy, just stop and put it back into the freezer. It helps to work the pastry on top of some baking paper on top of a small baking sheet or chopping board (just make sure it fits your freezer). When things become soggy, just stick the pan/board back into the freezer.

Cut the pastry in half. For each half, lightly mark (MARK, not cut) the pastry into 8 pieces. Make triangles. You will find that the you will make 7 whole triangles. The 8th triangle will be cut in half (the first and last pieces), but you can just put this back together by putting those pieces on top of baking paper, then overlapping them a bit and smoothening the pastry at the seams. Stick that triangle back in the freezer. (I hate wastage!)

8.  Get the orange syrup that you made and brush the triangles with this.

9. Get your rinds and put them on the pastry.  Start rolling, QUICK! Remember, if the pastry becomes soggy, just stop and put the whole thing back in the freezer for a few minutes.

10.  Make sure the thin ends of the triangle are on top of the croissant. It's ok if some of the rinds tick out from the pastry. Now you have 8 croissants with one half of the pastry sheet. Do the same for the other half of the pastry, to make 8 more croissants.

11.  Brush the croissants with beaten egg. NOTE: If the croissants have become soggy, stick them back to the freezer to ensure the butter in them is hard. This will make your croissants more flaky. 

12. Bake the croissants in a preheated 350F oven for about 5 to 7 minutes, until they are crisp and brown. You'll find that some of the syrup will ooze out and caramelise, and you will have crispy, sweet, thin bits of goodness around the croissants, something like "sugar glass."  If I were to do this again, I'd probably sprinkle them with a little sea salt, just for some flavour contrast. For the second batch, I had some leftover rinds and I put them on top of the croissants too, and they were great. They stuck well to the egg brushed surface.

Serve your croissants warm, then smile smugly, like a domestic goddess.