Creme Brûlée Croissants
These Creme Brûlée Croissants are so easy your family and friends will think you spent all day making them! Vanilla Cream and Buttery, Flaky Pastry and topped with a Crunchy Caramel!
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You won’t believe what show my four-year-old loves to watch with me?! Besides Sarah and Duck, she loves to watch Unique Sweets on Cooking Channel! No, seriously, she watches it with me and says “Mama, that looks so good, you gotta make that!” Haha, the life of chef mama at home! She even says “Mama, that sounds so good, look at that?!”
Well, after watching this show with her I knew I had to try making what we saw. I tried making croissants a few nights ago (thank goodness this past week I had a break from my classes) and filled them with Vanilla Chantilly Cream. My husband said they came out good. Yeah! But I still wasn’t happy with the texture of the croissants. The flavor was good, but I wasn’t wow’ed and they were different sizes.
Ok, I am going to be honest, the last time I made croissants was in my culinary high school program. I was not into baking when I was in high school. I messed up biscuits, because they were overworked. I also used baking soda instead of baking powder in my baking class at Johnson & Wales University. I was so happy that I had a professor that was interested of what would occur when not using the proper leavening agents (the cake came out horrible).
I thought about this. I really wanted to make these creme brûlée croissants work. I’m a mom of two girls under the age of four; a wife; I homeschool; I’m working on my master’s degree…ok I’m not trying to toot my own horn over here, but making fresh croissants is definitely not on my list.
That’s it I am buying already baked croissants!
And you know what….OH MY GOSH….EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED IN TEXTURE AND FLAVOR. SOFT, CHEWY, BUTTERY, AND WITH THE CRUNCHY CARAMELIZED SUGAR!! YES!!!
You can buy your croissants where ever you like. Fresh bakery, grocery store, anywhere! I tried buying them at Panera, but the Panera I usually go to didn’t have any. So I picked them up at the grocery store. Shhh..You don’t need to tell anyone.
To make the creme brûlée croissants you will make a pastry cream and a caramelized sugar…That’s it!
Creme Brûlée Croissants
Ingredients
- 6 each Croissants
Pastry Cream
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, seeds scraped
- 1 pinch salt
- 5 large egg yolks
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 TBSP unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
Caramelized Sugar
- 3 cups sugar
Instructions
Pastry Cream
- In a medium saucepan, combine milk, half of the sugar, vanilla bean, and salt. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, remaining sugar, and vanilla bean seeds. Whisk until sugar has dissolved slightly.
- Whisk in the cornstarch until well combined.
- Whisking constantly, slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot-milk mixture into the egg-yolk mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until it has been incorporated.
- Pour mixture back into saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens and registers 160 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 minutes.
- Remove and discard vanilla bean. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the butter, and whisk well until the butter melts and the mixture cools, about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled.
Caramelized Sugar
- Place three cups of sugar into a cold sauce pan over medium heat. Allow the heat to caramelize the sugar and do not start stirring until 1/4 of the sugar is dissolved. Heat the sugar between 295°F-309°F (hard crack stage)
Assembly
- Place the pastry cream into a disposable piping fitted with a small round or small star tip. Flip the croissant onto the back fill it with the pastry cream in three spots (the two ends and middle).
- Dip the top of the croissant into the caramelized sugar and place on a piece of parchment paper to set about 3 minutes.
- Optional you may torch the caramelized sugar to have burnt flavor like that of creme brûlée
Notes
These creme brulee croissants are so heavenly! The custard, the pastry, and the crunchy caramel!